The Game of Life
by Mjus
Summary: COMPLETED. Marik is a Nubian Lord fighting a losing war with the pharaoh. But the Egyptian king is mostly interested in Marik's secret treasure. rated T just to be sure.
1. Nothing left

Another story? Don't I have a life?

Well, I have no idea where this one came form, but I can't reallt stop myself from putting it up. If you have any ideas, please tell me so I can continue this one.

Without further ado, I disclaim that I owe Yugioh or any of the characters.

Enjoy this and be happy you haven't read the manga I made of this.

* * *

**1 chapter: Nothing left**

"Marik, this is your last chance. Surrender now or take the consequences."

Marik, the highest lord of Nubia, stood for everyone's view on top of the great wall that surrounded his castle. For many women he was a sight welcome down in bed with his hair coloured of the sand that stood up in spikes, skin darker than most others and the body of a god. He was muscled and surrounded by an air of confidence and untold mysteries. His eyes, burning or frozen, was always daring the one who looked into them a guess what was going on at the other side of the looking glass. But right now they held nothing but frustration and hatred.

"I have already answered, you Pharaoh of faithless sand. I will never surrender either to you or the very Gods watching us from above!"

The pharaoh, with a face framed by a white beard, scrawled angrily at the lord. He was a man in his last years of living. Yet he was a powerful man with muscles showing under his cloths and confidence and authority in his moves. Once the entire kingdom of Egypt had crept to Alexandria only to catch a glance of him. But the beauty of his youth was now gone. And left was a man hungry for more power and blood.

"May it be, lord of a dying land. You have until sunrise to prepare for defeat. Soon your evil will be put to an end."

In pure anger Marik picked up a loose stone from the wall he was standing on and showed it against the pharaoh with all his might. The old man avoided it rather gracelessly.

"**NEVER!"** Marik roared. **"NEVER WILL I GIVE TO YOU THE TREASURE YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD OF! NEVER WILL I LET YOU SEE IT!"**

Marik was far from stupid. He had ruled his region for as long as he could remember. And the pharaoh was not the first who sought the treasure rumours said he had in his possession. The pharaoh had only come with the excuse to free the world from his iron hand.

More curses were called out before the pharaoh and his army finally left. Marik growled darkly in frustration. He knew his own army was not enough to defeat the one of the pharaoh. He knew it, and so did his men.

With his deep purple cloak swirling around his form the lord turned back inside. A guard tried to keep up with his long strides, but if he wanted to he had to half run. "My lord. Why not only show the pharaoh what your treasure is? Then…"

"He will do everything in his power to take it away from me," Marik hissed.

"But my lord. What has drawn all these people here is plain curiosity. They want to know your treasure. If…"

"And let the entire world envy me?" Marik stopped so abruptly the guard ran straight into him. The lord should have swayed from the force, but he stood as steady as a statue. "Nothing in this world can compare to the beauty of my treasure. May it be only in my eyes, but I will never let anyone know the truth. I have too maqny enemies."

The guard stood rooted on the place as he saw the lord turn a corner on the other side of the corridor. He heaved a heavy sigh before he followed to the great hall where a meeting would be held.

Marik sat on a throne like chair at the far end of the room, his forehead wrinkled in deep thought.

"What shall we do, my lord?" one of his advisors asked with an almost pleading look after reporting about the state of the castle, the great wall and the army. That the lord was troubled could not even the ones in the back mistake on. Marik looked out over the sea of eyes expecting him to make a miracle happen. After a deep sigh he stood up. The truth had to be told.

"There is no way for us to overcome or even compare to the pharaoh's army," he said truthfully. "Therefore I tell everyone in here and inside the great wall to go home. Those who are already wounded and hurt may go home as well. Home, or flee, it is up to you. If no one wishes to stand by my side tomorrow then I will face the pharaoh alone. We will lose. But I will go down fighting all the way."

"And the treasure?"

Marik's face fell into shadows to cover his fear and regret. "I will take care of it," he said lowly.

The meeting ended and about ten percent of Marik's army left. The rest were faithful towards their lord. Marik was not the best in the world. He was rough, stern and his rules were hard. But he was fair. Every punishment answered for the crime, not for his mood.

With heavy steps and even heavier heart the lord walked to his chamber. He could hear Malik's soft singing and his treasure's worried voice. He brazed himself for the last night with his world.

He stopped outside the chambers, peering through the slightly ajar door. In there he could see the beautiful girl Malik. There was no prettier woman than she in the entire world. With skin slightly paler than most Nubians', unique, purple eyes filled with warmth and love and a perfectly curved body she should be hailed as a Goddess. Had she not been so young Marik would have taken her as his wife. In her lap was his treasure, his world, his reason to live.

His son.

"My lord," Malik greeted quietly, bowing her head for her master.

The boy turned around and deep purple met the most innocent eyes the lord had ever seen. "Daddy!" the boy called and climbed down from his nurse's lap.

Marik smiled lovingly and knelt down to let the six year old boy run into his arms. "Good evening, my treasure," he whispered into the boy's ear as he did every night.

"Daddy?"

Marik almost flinched from the worried tone in his son's voice. "Yes, my boy?"

"What happened out there? Who was yelling at you like that?"

Malik stepped forward, but Marik lifted the boy up and carried him over to the bed. "It was the pharaoh, my son," he said. His heart sank even more as the worry in the boy's face was changed into fear. "He will attack us tomorrow morning. And I can not fight them back."

"Of cause you can, daddy!" the little treasure called out hitting his small fists on his father's chest. "There is no one as strong as daddy."

Marik smiled as his chest filled with warmth at his son's words. It made him feel stronger. "Thank you boy, I guess I needed to hear that."

"Nothing will change, right daddy?"

Marik had to look away from his son's beautiful eyes. He wondered just how smart the little guy was. It was like he knew what was going on before it had happened.

"Master?" It was Malik's sweet voice this time. She stood not far away, prepared to take care of the boy as soon as her master left.

"I am sorry," he said lowly, only loud enough so Malik could hear. She moved closer, scared of the lord's decision. "Things has to change… nothing can stay the way it is forever."

"But we will still be together!" Marik's treasure said hopefully.

Marik felt his heart shatter in his chest. He could not find the courage to tell his son the truth. Instead he turned to Malik. "Could you please bring me a cup of warm milk, with sleep?"

Malik swallowed hard, but nodded anyway and went out the door. Her movements were graceful and pleasantly. It was a pleasure only to watch her move. But when she disappeared out of the door Marik's attention snapped back to the little, teary-eyed thing in his lap. His son looked at him with the widest eyes he could master, making them take up about three quarters of his face.

"Daddy?"

Marik, the kind of man you only meet once in a lifetime, a man known for his justice and roughness, a man with hands able to tear limps away from the body. This very man could at the sight of his son not say a word. All he found himself able to do was embrace the little boy tightly… and cry.

That's right. At the sight of his son, knowing of the future and what he had to do, Marik cried. He placed gentle kisses on his son's temples, buried his face in the boy's hair and held him close. None of these things had he never done before. Actually he did it every night. But tonight he put even more love and care in his movements and actins.

"You have come to look so much like your mother," he whispered.

"How?" the boy asked curiously.

Careful to dry his eyes before he looked into the little one's eyes, Marik smiled lovingly as he compared his treasure to the woman who had given birth to him six years ago. "You will have her shape of face," he said smiling, cupping the little boy's face with his large hands. "Your skin has the same colour as hers, though yours have a slightly darker tone…"

"Daddy?"

"Yes, my treasure?"

"Do you think I'm beautiful?"

Marik blinked, honestly surprised at the question. "Why do you ask?"

"I heard you call Malik that."

The lord had to laugh. His son was not sure what the word meant, so he had asked if he too fit to the explanation of the word. "Yes," he answered as he calmed down. "You are even more beautiful than Malik will ever become, but in a different way. For me you are the most beautiful thing alive in this world."

"Really?"

Marik smiled and kissed the boy's forehead. "Really!"

"Master?"

Father and son turned to Malin who stood in the door with a cup of steaming hot milk. The little boy knew since before this was to make him fall asleep without nightmares. At least that was what Malik and his father had said.

Malik sat down in the chair she had occupied before. "Come, young master," she tempted with the softest voice she could muster. The little treasure left his father's lap and run over to his nurse. Malik helped him up into her lap and held the cup to his mouth.

Marik watched the two. They had grown really close together since Malik managed to gain the lord's trust enough to take care of his treasure. She acted like the boy's mother more than his real mother had done.

"Malik," the boy asked after having sipped the hot milk for a while. The nurse made a sound to say she was listening. "Do you think I'm beautiful?"

Malik jerked and stared wide-eyed at the little boy in her lap. "W-why asking me that, young master?"

"Daddy said I am."

"Y-yes but… he's your father. I-I don't know…"

"Don't you think I'm beautiful?"

Malik looked at Marik for support, only to find him smiling rather amused. "He heard me call you it," he mouthed.

Malik blushed deeply before answering. "Yes… you are very beautiful, young master. I dare to say there is no one out there in the world who is as beautiful as you."

"Really?"

Malik smiled, still blushing. "Really, young master."

"Malik is beautiful too."

The young girl smiled lovingly before she once again held the cup to the little one's lips. It didn't take long, only after half of the cup was emptied, before the little treasure was asleep. Malik had put a little sleep powder in the milk to help the little one sleep.

With a smile filled with warmth, motherly love and pride, Malik stood up to put the little boy in bed, but Marik stopped her.

"Master?"

"He can not stay here."

Malik reacted almost immediately. She backed away from Marik, pressing the little boy close to her chest. "M-my lord. You can not take him away," she whispered, trying to not wake the child in her arms. "H-he… y-you are his father. H-how will he feel once he wakes up and he is not at home anymore?"

"I did not ask for your opinion, Malik," the lord hissed, angry that the nurse tried to keep his own son away from him.

"But…"

"What do you suggest me to do otherwise?" Marik said lowly, anger and hurt shining in his eyes. "Tomorrow morning the pharaoh will attack, ten percent of my army has left, the rest has stayed to die. The animals have been taken away, the gold is being buried in this moment, the castle is cleaned out. When the pharaoh attacks he will search through the entire castle for my treasure. What do you think he will do when he finds my son?"

Malik was silent. She still pressed the boy as close to her as she could.

"I will not leave my son to torture and death. Not in this life… or my next."

"But…" Malik started, barely above a whisper. "But he is mine too."

"Malik…"

"He is my son too."

The lord's eyes softened and he gave the nurse a look of pain. The young girl really loved his son, as if she was his real mother. Malik was as unwilling to give the little treasure away as Marik himself was. "I am so sorry, Malik," he whispered at last and took the few steps up to the girl to embrace both her and his son. "But this is the only way I could think of. The one I have chosen to take care of him is waiting."

"Then let me follow," Malik argued loudly with tears running down her face. "Let me follow him and…"

"And where would you go?" Whatever Malik had been about to say stocked in her throat. "You are nothing," Marik continued softly. "You were sold to me as a slave, and I made you take care of my son. Be his friend and nurse. But you do not know how to survive out there. You do not even know where to look to find eatable food."

Malik shook with silent sobs and hiccups. What Marik said was true. She had been a slave from birth. She was nothing. Her previous master had sold her because of someone else taking over her job and she had been too young to be a pleasure slave, and with Marik she had found peace and, when he brought his son to the castle, happiness. Marik had even given her a name. She knew she was in the age of becoming a pleasure slave now. If the pharaoh took her she would probably live the rest of her life in his harem. But what kind of life was that?

She wasn't able to talk when she slowly placed the boy in into the arms of his father. Marik took his treasure to his arms and, before he left, kissed the little boy's nurse on the forehead. "I will always love you."

Malik didn't move when her master left the room with, not only his, but her reason to live as well. From now on she had no life. So what was the meaning of keeping it?

* * *

Dressed in a grey cloak to hide his fine cloths Marik left his castle through a hidden pass way. The boy slept peacefully in his arms, not aware of what was going on in the world around him. Behind the lord could see shadows of men. The pharaoh's spies were watching the great wall to make sure Marik stayed inside. The lord could only hope his men had made it out alive.

In complete silence Marik moved between cliffs, trees and bushes to the place where he would meet his young friend.

"It is always such a pleasure to see you move, my lord," said a soft voice from the shadows. "You are the only one I know who can move silently over a mat of dry leaves and rocks with you hands filled."

"Have you waited for long, Bakura?"

The fourteen year old thief stepped out of the shadows into the faint light of the crescent moon. "Since last night, my lord. I move fast."

"Then you know more than necessary. But if you are here I believe you have answered my plea."

"It is only once in a million years a lord comes to a thief and begs for his help. Where is the treasure?"

At the tone of the young thief's voice Marik could tell Bakura did not know what character his treasure had.

Sitting on his knees Marik rested the treasure's weight on his legs so he had one arm free to move the cloth away from his son's face. He heard Bakura gasp quietly.

"By the ruler of the night," Bakura whispered almost soundlessly. "What is this?"

"This is my son," Marik answered simply, not able to tear his eyes from the boy's face.

"Never."

Marik snapped his gaze from his son to Bakura's scrawling one. "But…"

"I can't take care of a kid. Seriously, what made you even come up with the thought? I'm a thief. I make my living by stealing. He will only be in the way."

"Bakura… if not you…" Marik could not take it anymore. He fell to his knees and tears he had fought to hold back were running freely. "If you don't take him no one will. There is no other way I can think of. I can't… I just can't… The only two solutions I have are to give him to you or… or kill him. But I can't. I can't kill him. He's my son, for Heaven's sake. If the pharaoh gets his hands on him he will be tortured to death. I beg you, Bakura," Marik looked up at the thief's face. "I beg you to help me. Save my son."

Bakura was torn. He had never even imagined the stonehearted lord Marik cry before, and _never_ go down on his knees. But he was a thief. He could not take care of someone else. The child would only slow him down. But the pharaoh… the pharaoh was already responsible for countless lives. Countless.

"…Fine…" he said at last. "But I can not promise you his survival to your age."

Marik's relief could easily be read from his face. "Thank you," he whispered. Then he turned back to his son, giving him one last, loving kiss on the forehead. "He is only six, but he is smart."

Bakura nodded and took the boy into his arms. He realized the little one was much lighter than he had expected. "My lord…?"

"It does not matter if he lives to my age or not. All I wish and pray the gods for is for the pharaoh to never even lay his eyes on him. My son or not, his beauty alone will capture him inside the walls of the pharaoh's palace for the rest of his life. I will keep praying even after my death for the gods to let my son live without the pharaoh's knowledge."

And with those words Marik melted together with the shadows on his way back to his castle. Bakura once again looked down at the sleeping treasure. He had to admit that the boy looked really pretty even for his mare age of six. His skin was pale, very pale, but in a beautiful way. Instead of the bronze shade in his father's skin, Marik's son's skin resembled more of silver in the light of the moon. In the day he would find it could take a hint of gold as well. The boy's hair was as spiky as his father's, but it was soft to touch.

"He didn't give me any name," Bakura realized after trying to call the boy by it, finding he had none. "Well, you know yourself I guess. I may just wait out awakening out."

* * *

Back in the castle it was chaos. The short moment Marik had been gone his men and advisors had worked themselves up, believing their lord had been kidnapped by the enemy.

"My lord, I thought you were gone forever," one of the highest advisors said, relief sipping into his voice as well as his face.

"I hope you didn't believe I left you for good," Marik said calmly, never stopping on his way back to his room. He knew Malik was upset and had in mind to calm her somewhat.

"My Lord! The maidens have committed suicide," a soldier called.

Marik stopped, staring sharply at the man. "What?"

"I don't know, my lord," the guard said and bowed deeply, both in respect and exhaustion. "There are groups of them locked up in different rooms. Poison, rope, draggers, swords, cloths… They have used everything."

Marik turned and sprinted to his room. His heart beat painfully in his chest, but as he entered his chamber it felt like it stopped. On the bed lay Malik, dead. She had drunken the rest of the treasure's milk before she had stabbed her own heart with a dragger Marik always had hidden under his bed in case of an assassin. The young girl's cheeks were still wet from crying and her expression was of pain and grief.

"I should have known…" Marik whispered.

"Lord Marik! The kitchen! The chef has poisoned everything and given it to the slaves. No one is alive."

Marik's eyebrows furrowed in bitterness. Everyone knew what was coming, and everyone chose death by suicide before the pharaoh.

"What shall we do, my lord?"

Marik looked up, and his men could not help themselves when they gasped and jumped back. Never had they seen their lord with such dead eyes.

"Take all free men you can find in the castle and make them dig graves behind the castle. One for each of them. The rest will make sighs of honour we can place on the graves as a sign to who is laying where."

The guard and advisor bowed and left. But they didn't come long. "One more thing," Marik called out. "One of the graves shall be closer to the castle than the rest. I will make the sign to that one myself."

The two looked at each other, both knowing what his meant. "Yes, my lord."

No one said a word as the graves were dug. There were not one who did not know what had happened, and what was about to happen. The corpses were carried outside and carefully placed into the holes. Marik had used this kind of burial ever since his father passed away. He said it was easier, and did not cost as much gold as a tomb. And there were no need to worry about tomb robbers, no need for soldiers to guard the graves.

The grave in front of the others were just done when the lord walked out, carrying Malik in his arms like a bride. He had washed her body, combed her hair and dressed her in a plain, white dress made of the finest linen. She had never been prettier.

Malik laid the girl down on the rough material all corpses were wrapped into before they were covered with dirt. He placed the girl's hands on her chest and made her numb fingers grab a single white lily, as to sign her purity. He would have kissed her, but found it not suiting in the moment. This moment of an end.

As Malik was wrapped up in the material and carefully lowered into her silent grave, the air was filled with some kind of peace. It was the peace of knowledge, the peace of security, the peace before the storm. Malik was the last one who was buried this night. And when she was, all men fell to their knees in front of all the graves. Marik had promised he would go down fighting all the way, and he had no plans on breaking that promise. But right now it seemed like everyone was as unwilling to leave the graveyard as the lord himself. And it was their biggest advantage right then.

Daybreak. Before Ra set the day before Marik feared the break of day. But now he welcomed it with open arms. His son was safe, Malik was resting in peace, his men and soldiers were prepared. And Marik himself had never been so sure of what to do.

* * *

Outside the great wall the pharaoh's army lifted the battering-ram to break down the gate and let the army inside.

"Marik is up to something," the pharaoh said lowly to his general.

"I can see that," the general answered.

"Why are there no soldiers on the wall?"

"Why is there no noise from the other side of the wall?"

The two looked at each other. Marik was known for his slyness and ability to turn inferiorities to his advantages. The general turned to the army.

"Be prepared for anything!" he yelled out. "Marik can not win, but he can play us some cheap tricks that will cost many lives. But he can not come up with enough ideas in only one night to stand as the winner above us."

The army cheered in trained union and hailed the pharaoh for his blessing in this war.

The pharaoh raised his sword. **"FOR THE LAND OF EGYPT! TO VICTORY!"**

War cries of all sorts echoed through the air as the battering-ram moved forward. It hit the wood of the gate with such force it made a huge crack only from the first hit.

"**AGAIN!"** the general called out.

Once again the ram hit the gate and put another crack in the wood as the first one deepened. And still there came no sound from the other side of the wall. It was eerily silent.

"**AGAIN!" **

The first and second crack split so that the army could see the silent, empty castle through them.

"**AGAIN!" **

The gate groaned and protested from the forceful hit, but it stayed up, stubbornly protecting what was on the other side. And still there were no sign of life from Marik or his army.

"They can not have run away, can they?" the pharaoh asked his general.

"No, my spies have had the castle under strict watch the entire night. No one has sipped out."

"**AGAIN!" **

The cracks were now so deep the gate could not stand for much longer. But the silence on the other side was making both the pharaoh and the general nervous.

"**AGAIN!" **

The battering-ram hit through the hard, massive wood and the gate gave in with a deep groan of defeat.

With a loud yell of victory the army brought the huge battering-ram out and opened the gate, only to find the yard empty. Those who stopped to suddenly were hit to the ground and killed under the feet of their comrades. When the entire army realized they would meet no resistance they stopped to let the confused pharaoh and general through.

"General, take your men and search through the castle," the pharaoh ordered.

"Yes sir."

The silence lay heavy in the air. It was like everything had died or disappeared into thin air. The only thing that was heard was the footsteps of the pharaoh's army and the sound of metal softly hitting armours and the ground.

"There is nothing here, my pharaoh," the general announced after the entire castle had been carefully searched through. "Everything is gone. All we have found is a few rooms with blood on the floor or on the beds. The gold is gone along with the people."

The pharaoh had never been so confused, or worried. Marik was not the one to pack up and run away like this. Something was not right. "Search the castle again. There _must_ be something in there."

The general and some more soldiers ran back into the castle. Many others joined them since the silence outside spooked them.

No one noticed the cracking sounds at first. But as they grew louder the men started to look around. The pharaoh was not the first to see the cracks that crept around the base of the castle, but he was the one to feel the magic surrounding the entire place, but he was too chocked and confused to let out a warning.

No one was able to do anything but scream as the castle lifted from the ground. Through a curtain of falling stone and dirt the pharaoh locked gazes with no one but Marik in the flesh. But there was something in the lord's eyes that had changed. But before the pharaoh could dwell on it, Marik released his castle and let it fall.

Soldiers tried to shield themselves from the flying projectiles, but they were still too surprised and confused to think properly. Only the pharaoh was quick-witted enough to create a magic barrier to save himself and the soldiers behind him. He yelled in rage as he realized his general had been inside the castle, and the proud building was falling apart.

"**CURSE YOU, MARIK!"** the pharaoh yelled. **"I CURSE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY FOREVER."**

Behind the demolishing castle Marik smirked as he heard the curses the pharaoh placed on him. To lift the castle was almost too much for him, and he was swaying where he stood. But his move had killed more of the pharaoh's men than he had left in his own.

"As soon as the castle has fallen completely, walk around it and attack the pharaoh from both sides," he ordered.

His head guard nodded in agreement and turned to inform the army of Marik's. The lord's advisors were all busy keeping the protecting shield up between the demolishing castle and the graveyard. It was Marik's clearest order. At least the graveyard should be left untouched by the pharaoh.

"My lord," said a brave, young soldier and supported the swaying Marik. "You should not push yourself so hard."

"It is over for me anyway, young one," Marik said. He was not angry with the soldier for being worried about him. "I have given a promise, and I tend to keep it. I will die while making a fool of the pharaoh."

"What… what did you do to the treasure?" the soldier asked very carefully. He had not seen it being buried.

Marik's smile was so peaceful and happy the sun seemed brighter. "I have made sure he will live without the pharaoh's knowledge. He will live. He will be safe."

The guard nodded and moved back to his place in the lines. No one had ever seen the lord smile like that, and no one ever would again.

* * *

On a hill not far from Marik's castle stood Bakura and the treasure. It had taken quite some explanations before the boy had stopped fighting and protesting and tried to run back to his father. Now he watched with dry eyes how his home was destroyed.

"Will daddy die there?" he asked Bakura.

The young thief did not know how to answer. How did you tell a child his father would never more be there?

"I don't know," he whispered at last.

"…I will not cry," the boy decided then. Bakura gave him a strange look. "Daddy always said my eyes became dull when I cried, and that he didn't want them to look that way. So I will not cry. I will stay beautiful until I know he will no longer be there to see me."

Bakura had to swallow the hard lump that formed in his throat. The little one reminded him of his own loss, the lives of his family and friends. But he had cried for days before hatred claimed him and he decided to fight the pharaoh for the rest of his life. "You are strong, little one," he said lowly. "Just as strong as your father."

"…Thank you."

* * *

Marik's army silently attacked from both sides of the fallen castle. There was no need for war cries. They would not let the pharaoh hear the dying wolf's last howl.

Though still confused and disorganized from the fall of the castle, the army of the pharaoh still outnumbered Marik's. But they had to fight hard to defeat the determined soldier's of the lord.

But the men fighting were not only soldiers. Marik's advisors had drawn weapons and fought alongside the fighters. But Marik himself there were no sign of.

In the confusion of the pharaoh walked through the dust, created when the castle fell. On the other side he found the lord on his knees panting heavily.

"I should have known your little magic trick was too much for you to fight for yourself," the pharaoh sneered, before he stole a glance at what was behind the lord Marik. "What is this?"

"This is the holy ground of my land," Marik said. The pharaoh had to compliment him for his ability to sound so calm and steady though his obvious exhaustion. "If you or anyone of your soldiers dares to touch it, you will be killed by the spirits guarding this land."

"I am not interested in your land's old rituals," the pharaoh spat. "Where is your treasure?"

Marik smirked deviously. "Far out of your reach," he said simply.

A hard fist collided with Marik's cheek. "Wrong answer, you fallen lord of nothing."

"You mean I should have lied?" Marik asked sweetly. "If the pharaoh asks you should always answer with the truth. That is what my mother always told me. But then again, I guess she was smarter than you."

Another hard fist landed on Marik's face. The pharaoh was losing patience. "You think you can fool me forever, fallen one? But I will make you sing out to the entire land of Egypt where your treasure is hidden."

"You have killed me time and again before that happens, pharaoh of bloodied sand," Marik sneered. He had no plans on telling this man what his treasure was. After all, he did not know where the boy was at. The fact that he had given it to Bakura, who was already known for his ability to slip away, was nothing the pharaoh needed to know. And nothing the pharaoh was able to do would change that fact.

The pharaoh sneered himself. "We will see, little dying dog in darkness. There is a limit to how much pain a body can resist before it spills it deepest secrets."

* * *

Hm, good. That is good enough for now. Now, please tell me who the treasure is (I know, you don't) I wanna see if I was descreet enough about it or if I have to make it harder to realize.

Another thing, a reminder, please give me some clues to what will happen now. It is quite frustrating not to know when I'm the one who's writing this.

Thank you for reading, and I will be even happier if you...

**REVIEW!**

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	2. Execusion

I'm so sorry I update so late. I thought I had already updated. I realized yesterday I hadn't. SO sorry for that.

Well, here is the next chapter in this my unplanned story. I have gotten two guesses of who the 'treasure' is. Well, after this chapter there will probably be no doubt, even if I don't mention it yet.

Have fun (or not since it's no funny chapter) with this and don't forget to send me a little note when you're done.

* * *

**2ond chapter: Execution**

Marik sat in a dark, moist cell with his hands chained over his head. His clothing was long since ruined, he had starved and he had wounds and dried blood all over his body. Since he was captured, after having given the pharaoh a few deep scars, he hadn't said a word. Not even a sound of pain had left his lips, and it was driving his tormentors over the edge. They had made it a sport to spit at him from the bars and see if they could possibly hit his face. This far no one had succeeded. Which really was no big surprise since it was at least ten feet to where Marik sat.

This morning, the fourth since he was caught, the guards stood spitting and telling raw jokes about him as usual. But everything silenced as the door suddenly opened. Marik knew who it was without needing to think. There was only one person who could silence these beasts just by approaching. The pharaoh slowly walked to his cell to sneer at him. Marik didn't look up.

"I should have known you were this stubborn, Marik," the aged king said spitefully. "But tell me, to what use is your treasure once you are dead?" Marik raised his head a little, just to tell he was listening. "You are dying, Marik," the pharaoh continued and started to walk up and down the bars, trying to annoy his stubborn enemy as much as possible. "Even if you manage to flee, you will not come long. Your wounds are not treated. It is only a question of time before you will never open your eyes again."

Marik lifted his head a little higher and his dark eyes looked through his dirty bangs. He knew what the pharaoh was heading to, and he already knew how to answer. But he let the king go on with his game.

"I have realized your treasure is more valuable than gold. Otherwise you would not be so eager to protect it. Buy why protect it so dearly when you are standing at death's doorstep?"

Marik raised his head a little higher, so that he could see the ruler properly.

"But I am a merciful man," the pharaoh continued, but Marik let out a harsh breath, like a snort. The king of Egypt pretended not to hear. "I can let you see your treasure, one more time before death claims you. All you need to do is tell me where it is."

Slowly, one harsh breath at time, Marik started to laugh. A bitter, joyless, and gasping laugh. "And what would you do then?" the former lord asked hoarsely. "Destroy it? Your eyes have never seen the beauty of the world, and can therefore not find value in anything else but shining metals and colourful stones. A mind like yours are not even worthy of glimpsing the treasure of mine."

Biting down in attempt to control his temper the pharaoh was about to hiss his answer, but was interrupted by another, smaller voice.

"He does not look so dangerous like that."

Marik's eyes widened as they fell on a small boy at the pharaoh's feet.

"Son!?" the pharaoh yelled. "What are you doing here? Why are you not at your classes?"

No one noticed how Marik's hands started to tremble as he stared at the son of the pharaoh. 'So he too has been blessed with a child. And still he can not realize what I call my treasure. Then he does not even know how valuable his son is.'

"But great father, Priest Amides is boring me," the son said as a matter of fact. "And he has already thought me what he is trying to fill my head with today."

"Who gave birth to you?"

Everyone stared at Marik, who had, out of nothing it seemed, spoken the question.

"Mommy, of cause," the son said with a cute blink of his eyes.

Marik hung with his head again. "That's a good thing," he whispered."

"Enough!" the pharaoh demanded, annoyed that his enemy had spoken to his son, and that the aforementioned had answered. He pointed a hard finger at his son. "You are going back to your classes this instant. And you," he pointed at his guards, who straightened up stiffly, "you see to get something out of that monster."

The pharaoh continued to give orders, not noticing how his enemy gave his son a slight smile, and how the little boy blushed in return, before he run back to wherever he came from.

* * *

The days passed by, and Marik stayed silent. It was like he had lost all will to live, and still held on to life as long as he could for reasons the pharaoh could only guess. Soon it would be ten days since the lord was defeated and taken to the pharaoh's cells in order to be tortured until he revealed where his treasure lay hidden. He had hardly gotten any food, and what he had been given he had just barely touched. He drank the water, but that was about it.

"Enough is enough, my pharaoh," the queen, the most beautiful woman found in Egypt, said one evening.

"I will not release him until he tells me where it is hidden!" the pharaoh hissed angrily.

"He will never," the queen stated coldly. "He has lived through so much suffering already. Enough is enough. If you keep this up he will die very soon. He will take his secrets with him to Osiris's chamber judgement."

"He would not have to suffer if he only told me where that oh so valuable treasure of his is hidden. If he only did that he would be free from it all long ago!"

"Have you not thought of the possibility to his treasure to be valuable only in his own eyes? Like our son was only born to take your place when Osiris decides your time here with me had come to an end."

The pharaoh stared at her, but then he smirked evilly. "Are you hinting that you believe Marik to have a son?"

The queen stayed silent. She knew the eyes of her husband, and knew what would happen if she uttered as much as a hiccup.

But she wouldn't have had to worry, as the king burst out in a roaring laugher, as if his wife had just told him a very funny joke.

"My queen," the pharaoh laughed. "My purely beautiful, innocent love. What woman, by her full senses, would ever bring a son to a devil like Marik?"

The queen shook her head, not knowing what to say. Marik wasn't bad-looking. He was still young, with a strong and beautiful body and bewitching eyes for those who dared to seek beyond their depths. The pharaoh's wife was sure women from all around the world would fall to the young lord's knees and beg him to be the father of their children. And for some reason she could not explain, she didn't believe Marik was as evil as her husband had made him seem.

* * *

The son of the pharaoh. The prince was only at the age of eight, and as every other child he wanted to play games rather than stay locked up in his classes all the time. He only had one funny teacher, and that was his teacher in magic, Simon.

"Simon, what do you think about the prisoner Marik?" he asked the day after he had spoken to the "feared man sprung from a human nightmare" as his father put it.

The old man's stern eyes looked at him in surprise. "The prisoner? I have actually never spoken to him."

"But if no one has ever spoken to him, why can you tell he is evil?"

Simon looked troubled for a moment, as if thinking this kind of information was allowed. "Marik has done things in the past, that has made the people all around him name him as evil."

"What has he done?"

Simon shrugged his shoulders. "I have only heard rumours and what the pharaoh's spies have said. But the reason he is dubbed as evil is mostly because of an incident with a woman of high nobility. She was a real beauty I have heard. Not enough to compare to the queen, but that do not have with the subject to do. According to the rumours she had an affair with Marik, but the spies deny the gossip. However, if the rumours are right then maybe Marik would have had a reason to all of sudden let his army march straight into her domains and palace. They killed her, her sisters and mother who was there as well. Most of the maidens were spared, some of them were captured, others thrown out on the streets, naked, and left to their humiliating fate. But there is no one who knows what Marik took with him from the palace. Witnesses have said he wore a buddle in his arms. A buddle he held close to his body and looked at with a smile on his face. Heed my words. He _smiled_ at the buddle. He didn't smirk or sneer. He _smiled_."

The prince thought about it for a while. "Do you think that was the treasure my great father is yearning for?"

"Perhaps," Simon answered. "Either that, or a part of it."

"Do you think it is more?"

"I don't know," Simon said honestly. "The only ones who probably knew beside Marik are dead. Killed in the last battle between Marik and his holy majesty."

The prince rested his head on his arms, thinking the situation through. "But do you think he is evil?" he asked again.

"…No," Simon said slowly. "I know there is no human who are throughout evil. The human has more than one side, and no one acts without reason, and those who do are probably only bored out of their minds and do something stupid and reckless only for some excitement. And about lord Marik. He has never acted without reason. Not once. And absolutely never because of his own greed. That much I have been able to decide by putting gossip and facts together. So no… I do not believe Marik is as entirely as evil as the morning and evening star wants him to be."

The little prince nodded in thought. "But he is weird," the then said, much to Simon's surprise.

"What makes you say that?"

"He asked me who gave birth to me."

Simon gave the prince a weird look. "And what was your answer?"

"Mommy, of cause. What else? And he said that was a good thing. Isn't that weird?"

Just like Marik, Simon noticed, and immediately he knew what Marik called his treasure. So many peaces in the mystical puzzle that was Marik fell into place.

"I see. So _that_ is his treasure," he mumbled to himself.

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Simon said quickly. "Let us continue this lesson. Oh, and for the good of both of us, do not tell any of your parents about our little talk about Marik. And not to anyone else for that matter."

The prince nodded, somewhat dumbfound.

* * *

That night Simon went down to Marik's cell.

"I am sorry, high priest, but no one but the feeding slaves, the soldiers and his majesty are allowed to see the prisoner," the guards said with bowed heads.

"I am on a special quest for the light of Nile. He has given me permission to pass," Simon said clearly.

The guards immediately parted and let the high priest in. "Leave us alone. I do not want anyone to hear unless I yell for help," Simon ordered sharply.

The guards bowed lowly, closed the door and moved away from it.

Marik sat where they had left him, bleeding freely from his fresh wounds. He only had days, maybe hours left.

"I think I understand," Simon said lowly as he unlocked the bars and, very disgusted, stepped over the pools of spit lying at Marik's feet. "I think I understand why you so desperately try to hide your treasure."

Marik lifted his head a little, only enough to signal he was alive and listening.

"I am a teacher of the prince, Marik. He asked me a lot of questions about you. Like if you are really evil."

Marik's dry, chapped lips turned upwards in a bitter, contemptuous sneer. "Everybody thinks I am," he whispered. His voice was hoarse and toneless, as if it no longer had a life.

"The prince did not think so," Simon said and pulled out a hidden sack of water from his cloths. He took the first mouthful as to sign it was nothing dangerous with it before he brought it to Marik's bleeding lips.

Marik, thirsty as he was, drank greedily, but stopped as he felt like throwing it up again. "You should not waste it on me," he whispered, some life having returned to his voice. "I am not long for this world anyway."

"I think your son would not agree."

Marik felt it like his heart jumped out if his chest. He stopped breathing and opened his eyes wide.

"I told you I talked to his holy majesty's son. I figured out everything by your question and his answer. Not all of us are as narrow-minded as certain others."

Marik started to fight against his chains. He had to get out. He had to warn them. He couldn't let any of them be harmed. He couldn't. He couldn't let his world be killed.

"Relax. I have told the prince to not say anything to anyone, and I am yet the only one who has figured it out," Simon said calmly. "And I will not tell on you."

"How can I trust you?"

"I know how precious a child can be. I myself lost my daughter… a long time ago."

"No…" Marik whispered, his head hanging low. "You do not understand. He… he is my life, my heart, my world. If the pharaoh knew about it, he would kill him. I can not let that happen. My world… my treasure. He is my everything. He is all I have left to love. The only one left who innocently and endlessly loves me. I need that… I will… I can never let anything happen to him…"

Marik's voice died. He couldn't use it anymore. Tears were running down his cheeks in rivers and his chest heaved with his silent sobs. Simon put an understanding hand on his shoulder.

"I promise you by the head of mine and the soul of my daughter… I will not betray you or your treasure. I can convince the morning star to execute you… and then there will be no one but the boy who can tell where your treasure is hidden."

"I do not know…" Marik started.

"Know what?"

"Where he is. I… I let him… go. I… I do not… know…"

Simon brought the water sack to the prisoner's lips again. "There, there. I understand. I will talk to his majesty. I will help the two of you."

Marik looked up at him. No words needed to be said.

"I will die with this secret," Simon promised.

Marik lowered his head and nodded.

* * *

The pharaoh's voice was heard throughout the palace the next morning. The slaves hid in groups in rooms, behind pillars in the halls, in vases, under tables and wherever they were able to hide. All the guards and soldiers fell to their knees and prayed to Osiris, Anubis, Isis, Bastet and Ra for the pharaoh not to punish them in his mood. The priests took cover in their temples and hoped nothing bad would fall upon the country. It would be blamed on them.

"**TRAITOR!"** the pharaoh brawled over and over again (the reason everyone hid). **"TRAITOR! I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU!"**

Curses that made maidens cover their ears and lay flat on the floor and men praying for their souls echoed through the palace.

"I have not betrayed you, light of Nile, morning and evening star, son of Ra," Simon said, though it was not easy to talk when he had his face pressed against the floor.

"You have talked to that scum without my allowance. UNACCEPTABLE!"

"But I have figured out something important about what you wish to know from him, king of earth, ruler of the kingdom of Egypt, living God, water of Nile."

The pharaoh immediately calmed down enough to lean forward, eager for news. "What?" he demanded.

"Forgive me, light of Egypt, brother of Bastet, Hathor and Sekhmet (1), current of Nile, but unfortunately he has passed the treasure to someone else who managed to flee. He doesn't even know for himself where it is, oh God placed among humans…"

"**SILENCE!" **

The entire world seemed to fall silent at the pharaoh's demand. In his cell Marik smiled. Simon hadn't betrayed him.

"His blood will colour the earth in red," the pharaoh roared. "Prepare an execution at the top of the palace wall! Call the entire city to watch the fallen lord of Nubia lose his precious head! Humiliate him the worst way possible!"

The guards rushed into action. Simon knew that as long as the pharaoh didn't know anything about the treasure Marik wouldn't care if he was humiliated or not. But he had to go to his temple and pray for Marik's soul. For the sake of his own conscience and the lord's son.

* * *

At sunrise the next morning people started to crowd at the feet of the impressive execution place. It was made of ochre coloured stone, to symbolize this was where Anubis brought the humans' souls to the feet of Osiris in his chamber of justice. Dark clouds could bee seen far in the west, meeting the sun, promising the rain-period to come soon. But as Ra rose higher under Nut (2) the day became hotter, and the air was heavier, than it usually was.

The priests had gathered to make sure the soul-wandering ceremony was successful. They didn't want Marik's spirit to hunt the world of the living.

The pharaoh came out, walking on the cloths of his high priests who laid them on the road he was walking, to voice the punishment. Everyone, from the youngest child, to the oldest of men, fell to their knees, begged for his blessing, and praised the ruler of their land.

Then the prisoner came. Some of the younger children had collected rotten fruit and food to throw at Marik, but as the former lord appeared, they didn't dare to use them.

Tied with chains around his ankles and wrists, led by rope tied around his neck, robbed of his cloths, leaving his badly tormented body completely exposed, Marik walked with as much confidence as if he was still a lord. He stood and walked, if so with short strides because of the chain, with pride, only keeping his eyes down to shade them with his hair. His eyes though, purple depths of knowledge and power, seemed to see straight through every person's soul, whoever he happened to lock gazes with.

The crowd started to boo and yell humiliating things, raising fists at him, spiting at the ground he walked. There was no one who dared to bow their heads at the still very beautiful youth. The pharaoh was there. And showing respect against his enemies would most certainly grant them the same fate as the former lord.

The guards tried with every cheap trick they had to make the lord fall. But already knowing them inside-out Marik never did, until they pushed him to his knees in front of the pharaoh.

Egypt's ruler talked to the people, telling them what a cruel monster he had defeated, and soon would free the world from. Then he turned to Marik, lowering his voice.

"Tell me to who you have passed the treasure, and I will pray to Osiris, Maat, Horus and Anubis to show mercy to your poor soul."

Marik somehow managed to spit at the pharaoh's feet, the spit mixed with blood.

"As you wish," the pharaoh sneered.

Marik suddenly turned his head, locking with a pair of terrified, but determined and familiar pair of eyes. His first thought was to yell at him to turn his eyes away. But under the glow of the executor's axe he didn't have the time.

Time seemed to slow down as they looked at each other. The crowd's noise wasn't there. Marik saw the boy's lips move. The word echoed inside of the fallen lord's head.

"_Daddy…"_

Marik smiled, lovingly and truly, at his son. "I love you," he mouthed. "My pair of amethyst."

The axe reached its destination.

* * *

Bakura held on to the violently trembling boy. He knew it was the most stupid idea to accept the boy's wish to be with his father when he died. But it couldn't be changed. All he could do now was to get the boy away from the pharaoh's palace as soon as possible.

"Come. If we stay here I may not be able to keep my promise to your father."'

The boy nodded and accepted Bakura to lift him up in his arms to run. But as they flied, the boy grabbed a long stick, used to keep up a cover over a doorway, and raised it over his head. Bakura was taken by surprise as the little, six year old boy in his arms suddenly moved higher up and brought the stick down, as if to hit something.

But the stick didn't hit anything. Only Marik had known it, but his son possessed a mighty kind of magic, one no one else knew of.

Through the stick the little boy fired all his feelings against the pharaoh. It missed. But in the stone wall behind him words were carved in a handwriting so alike the now dead Marik's.

"DEATH TO THE PHARAOH"

* * *

(1) Bastet, Hathor and Sekhmet is the three daughters of Ra. Bastet is the goddess of love (as most of you already know), with the head of a cat. Hathor is usually drawn with the head of a cow with kind eyes, but sometimes she takes the shape of a terrifyng lioness. She is the one who Ra once ordered to erase the human kind (luckily he stopped her after one day) I don't know more of Sekhmet than that she has the head of a lioness.

(2) The goddess of the sky. Originally the word for Sky


	3. Finding each other

Hey, sorry it took so long, but I've been at the hosp for some time, so I got good reasons. I wasn't able to write a word on **any** of my stories for three weeks.

Enough about that. Here's the third chappie. Enjoy.

* * *

**3d chapter: Finding each other**

"Hey, squirt. Where the fuck are you? I'm not in the mood of playing games now. Show yourself, you little pest. I'm going to skin you alive."

"I wanna see you try."

Bakura turned his head to the one who had spoken and his indigo eyes met a pair of amethyst ones.

"Yugi, you fucking little piece of shit. Don't you know how worried I get when you decide to play hide and seek without telling me first?"

"It's just so fun to see the 'heartless' thief Bakura run around looking like a mother." The boy's eyes twinkled in the light of the sun. Bakura had early learnt to love those eyes, filled with such innocence, power and beauty. There existed no other human with eyes like Yugi's.

"I have told you many times before, but I'll say it again; I…"

"Promised daddy to look after me, I know, I know," Yugi said and jumped down from the cliff. He was ten years old now, but already he started to take the shape of his father's body and face. Bakura already knew women would die for a night with this one.

"So stop acting so arrogant and reckless already," the thief hissed.

"Why should I? You're not my dad."

That one hurt. "What the fuck is wrong with you, squirt? Are you asking to die?"

Yugi just snorted and headed towards the cave they stayed in for now. Bakura sighed silently. He was only eighteen; and it was hard for him to look after the more and more rebellious Yugi. The first year with Yugi hadn't been this troublesome. And now it was four since Marik had lost his head. Still there were rumours going on around the kingdom. Whispers of guesses what the treasure of Marik's was. A priest had picked up the lord's last words, and they had somehow spread throughout Egypt. Bakura couldn't help but worry about it. The world wasn't completely filled with meatheads. Sooner or later, if Yugi kept up his reckless acting, he would be figured out and, in the worst case, brought to the pharaoh. The mare thought made Bakura's blood run cold. He knew he couldn't protect Yugi forever.

The thief was just about to turn around and walk over to the cave and throw something together so they could eat tonight when he suddenly picked up the sound of footsteps.

Not taking any chances, Bakura rushed over to the cave and hissed at Yugi to hide before he himself pulled himself into a niche just big enough for him. It covered him from sight form above and inattentive travellers that passed the river. He could just hope Yugi was smart enough to actually stay hidden. There were things he knew he couldn't protect the little one from.

The army of the pharaoh for example.

But of cause the gods was never on his side during the day. The people were going down to the river to let their camels drink. Bakura managed to catch a glimpse of them. _Priests of Set_(1), he thought.

The white-haired thief quickly counted the days of the year and realized it was only a week left for the day when the priests of Set had their rituals and celebrations. This really wasn't his day.

"Seven more times for Ra to wander under Nut and we have only two sacrifices," one of the priests hissed to his comrades.

"I know," another said and spit on the moist ground. "We need three more to fill the list. Little innocent lambs. They are too hard to find, if we don't go into a village and buy their children of cause."

"Why do that when we can take the children of the homeless?" asked a third one. "They are for free after all."

"Too bad we have to stay friends with Horus(2) and Isis(3). Those two will bring us bad luck and short lives if we aren't honest with our sacrifices."

"Yes, it would be the worst thing to anger Isis," the first one said and tensed. "She will cut down the popularisation of Egypt again, weaken our powers and send illness upon the land if we anger her again."

"And if the sacrifices are not the right ones, Set will bring unfortunate upon the kingdom of Egypt, and the pharaoh will blame us for it."

_I beg you, Geb(4), with all I have and for everything I am. Hide Yugi from these men's sight,_ Bakura prayed silently over and over again.

"Let us use the staff of Set once again and let it lead us to our next sacrifice," one of the priests said.

_Geb, Shu(5), Bastet, Horus, Set…_ Bakura went on with his prayers.

There was a sound from where the staff was thrown into the air, and then how it landed.

"It points at the town of Carell," a priest said with a sigh.

Bakura breathed in silent relief.

"No, wait. It is pointing in the opposite direction. In that cave is our next sacrifice."

Bakura's blood became ice. He had to get out and save Yugi. But he couldn't. He was stuck where he was. He couldn't get his foot free, and if the priests saw him before he was completely free he would be sloughed like an ox right at that spot. And then they would take Yugi and give him to Set.

_Geb, please, I beg you. Release me. I have to save Yugi. I must save him. I… I won't be able to live with myself if I lose him. I won't be able to live at all. Please Geb. Please!_

"LET GO OF ME!"

Yugi's angry demand made Bakura pull his leg roughly. But a sharp stone cut into his flesh and nailed his foot at place. If he wanted to keep his foot he needed to take his time to get out.

"Be still. You have been chosen by Set himself to become one in his home. It is a great honour. Now come with us and…"

"I WILL **NEVER** ACCEPT THIS. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE **TALKING** ABOUT. LET ME GO **IMMEDIATELY** OR YOU WILL REGRET IT FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS UNDER THE EYE OF RA!"

"It is a really noisy sacrifice, this," said a priest who passed close to the niche where Bakura was hiding.

Pushing down his raising panic Bakura fought to think clearly. He _could_ save Yugi, but not now. He wouldn't let Marik's son be sacrificed to _any_ god.

* * *

Yugi stopped fighting after a few hours. He wondered why Bakura hadn't done anything. The thief he knew would come running from the end of the world if Yugi was in trouble… But then again, they had fought just before this. Maybe Bakura was angry with him.

"_Why should I? You're not my dad."_

"_What the fuck is wrong with you, squirt? Are you asking to die?"_

The memory hit him hard. Bakura was the closest to a father, or brother, he would ever have again. Yugi knew that had been uncalled for, but he couldn't help it. Had Bakura decided to actually let him die?

As night fell and Tefnut shone down at her son from under her daughter's hair, Yugi had lost his voice from his own bitter thoughts. Along with him were two others, both boys in his age, who also would be sacrificed to Set. All of them were bond by the hands, just in case they tried to flee. None of them had tried to talk to the other, but as the night fell the other two started to quietly whisper.

"Hey, who are you?"

Yugi just glanced at him with empty eyes.

"You were found in that cave at Nile, weren't you? Are you a traveller?"

Yugi just hung his head before he shook it in denial.

"Are you a thief? Then you must have some kind of knife, don't you?" the other asked eagerly. "Then we can get out of here and back to where we belong. My father will be overjoyed to see me again."

The words cut deep in Yugi's heart.

"Don't you have a father at home?"

Yugi shook his head and made a sign with his hands.

"Oh, sorry," the boy whispered. "What about your mother?"

Yugi made the sign again.

"Don't you have _anyone_?" the first one asked unbelievingly.

Yugi shook his head slowly, fighting down his tears. He was saved by one of the priests who came over to them. He started to tell them the honour of being sacrificed to his god, Set. Yugi didn't need to listen. He knew Set from before. It was him who had taken his father from him in the first place, through the pharaoh.

After the speech they were given bread and water to eat. It wasn't much if you wasn't used to a very limited diet. Yugi was, the other two weren't.

As a thief, you start by learning the three holy rules. One of them was to _never_ share food given to you. Yugi hadn't gone against any of the rules before, and he wasn't about to start now. If his fellows were starving, it wasn't his problem.

* * *

It was late the day they arrived to the temple. It was an impressive building with grotesque paintings on the walls. War, soldiers, monsters of death… everything was about blood and death.

"See and respect the temple of Set," one of the priests said to the five sacrifices. Four of them stared at the building in aw, the fifth one had stopped listening to the sounds around him long ago. His amethyst eyes were dull and lifeless.

"Tomorrow you will go through the ritual and join the almighty Set in his home," the high priest started his speech. Yugi just stared in front of him lifelessly.

_Bakura…_

That night all the sacrifices were supposed to pray to Set and have his blessing and allowance to arrive at his home. All five of them knelt in front of the altar, made of red sandstone, and lowered their heads silently waiting for some kind of sign.

But Yugi didn't pray to any god. He prayed for his father to save him.

_Daddy, why didn't Bakura save me? Why haven't he come to my rescue yet? Is it because what I said to him? Did I anger him? Please, daddy. I must know._

Tears started to fall down his cheeks, which the priests took as a sign he was accepted.

No one noticed one of the priests disappeared.

* * *

_Yugi was in his room, waiting for his father to join him. Malik had gone to bring him something to eat, and had promised to return with something great._

_Marik entered the room with a soft smile on his face._

"_Daddy!" Yugi called and ran into his father's arms._

"_My son. How are you tonight, light of my life?" Marik said as he lifted him up in his arms, moving towards the bed._

_Yugi giggled at the name. "Am I your light?" he asked, eyes wide and hopeful._

"_You will always be my light, my little treasure," the lord said with a loving smile and kissed his forehead. "Nothing is more important to me than you."_

_Malik entered the room with tray with food. "Good evening, my master," she said and bowed. Compared to the other women in the castle, Malik moved with ease and pleasure. Yugi loved to see her make those simple moves other women did so clumsily._

"_Great, you've brought us some snacks. It is like you read my thought before I had formed them," Marik said with a delighted smile. Malik blushed deeply._

"_Did you bring me something good?" Yugi asked eagerly._

_Marik laughed at this and kissed Yugi's hair lovingly. "I love you, light of my life."_

"_I love you too, daddy." Malik sat down on her knees in front of the small table she brought to her masters. "And I love Malik too."_

_The girl gave him a wonderfully happy smile. "And I love you, young master."_

"_There are few who does not love you, my treasure," Marik said as he grabbed a grape to pop it into his mouth._

"_Bakura doesn't love me," Yugi mumbled and snuggled deeper into his father's chest. In there he could hear the safe heartbeats._

"_Of cause he does, Yugi," Marik said softly. "He loves you more than he is willing to admit."_

Yugi woke up from a cold touch on his cheek. The cold thing jumped away from his face so that he could see what it was.

"Malik?"

The purple eyes in front of him were identical with Malik's. But the pupil didn't look right. It was long and thin, like…

"A cat," Yugi whispered to himself. In front of him stood a very small cat with cream coloured head and paws, and bronze coloured body and tail. It was really cute with its big, purple eyes and exited expression.

It moved closer to Yugi again and put its cold nose on Yugi's cheek. It seemed to decide it liked this human boy, because it moved down to under his chin where it curled into a furry ball and yawned.

Yugi smiled to himself. At least he wouldn't be alone tonight.

He thought of the dream he'd had. Had it been a message from his father? Did… did Bakura really love him?

…Or was everything just a trick made by his tired mind?

* * *

The ritual was supposed to be held in the evening, when the eye of Ra shone right into the temple and gave the altar the infamous colour of blood. During the entire day the sacrifices was not allowed to eat anything. But it didn't matter to them. They were brainwashed by the high priest and his promises about a new home with Set. Except for Yugi.

The kitten he had found, or who had found him, Yugi decided to call Malik. It was a male, but his eyes were so like Malik's Yugi couldn't think of another name. She had always been a lovely girl with warm and playful eyes. Yugi could really imagine Malik to be reborn as Bastet's child. It gave him hope. Malik wouldn't come to him if he was to die. Something would happen that would set him free. His father wouldn't let him die like this. He would definitely get away from this.

…but to where?

Bakura was the first thought that popped up in the amethyst eyed boy's mind, but truth to be told Yugi had no idea of where the white-haired thief could be.

_Bakura,_ he thought silently to himself as he saw Ra lower down towards the end of the world, letting his red-golden light slowly fill the temple of Geb and Nut's bad son. _You always tell me you must protect me because of the promise you gave daddy._

The sacrifices were lined up before the altar. One after one they would offer their blood, lives and souls for something greater than their minds could comprehend with.

_But you never say a word that you do it only for **me**._

A staff made of wood that smelled strangely familiar touched Yugi's chin and lifted his face to look at the holy statue of Set. From the corner of his eye he saw the glint of metal, reflecting the red light of Ra, and a soft mewling was heard from inside his cloths.

The one who held the staff started to mumble a prayer in the holy language of the gods… and Yugi's eyes snapped wide open. In a flash he realized three things: he wasn't bond, his key to freedom was right under his chin, and that Bakura hadn't abandoned him.

As the knife lowered to cut up the small boy's throat, Yugi grabbed the staff and hit the poisoned metal out of the priest's hand.

"I WILL **NEVER** LET YOU KILL ME!" he yelled as the end of the staff hit the stones he stood on and a bright, violet fire blew up from under him.

"A monster!" a familiar voice yelled.

Bakura, disguised as a priest, grabbed a hold of the material of Yugi's cloths from behind and raised a knife to stab the boy's heart. But as the thief stood behind Yugi, no one noticed how his hand moved up over the little boy's heart, and therefore stabbed his own hand.

Yugi, as concentrated on his own task as he was, didn't notice any of this and just wielded the staff over his head, lifting up himself and the one holding him away from the temple.

The oasis where Yugi landed was too small for anyone to live around it. Here, Ra had almost sunken below the end of the world, leaving Tefnut (6) alone with the stars to lighten up the night. Yugi opened his eyes just as Bakura pulled the knife out of his hand.

"Bakura! What did you do?"

"I gave those fools a reason to never touch you again," Bakura said calmly, but his face betrayed his pain. He sat down, leaning against a tree.

"Let me take care of that," Yugi more or less ordered as the thief started with his cloths to bandage his hand.

Bakura was about to protest, but all that came out was a loud hiss of pain as the younger grabbed his hand quite roughly.

"Why did you do this?" Yugi asked again as he slowly let his magic flow through his hands. The soft, blue violet light eased the pain and slowly healed the wound.

"I would have helped you from the beginning, had Geb not stopped me," the indigo-eyed thief said slowly, letting his eyes slide shut as he leaned his head backwards. "I guess it was to protect the both of us. I wouldn't have been able to help you back there. I was unprepared, upset and out of focus. It took me half a day to get out of that niche." He stopped a moment to look up at the darkening sky, seeing the stars be lightened one after another. "I never got a chance to help you before you reached the temple. Maybe you didn't notice it, but you were protected, and guarded, by a magical barrier only the priests could get through. At the temple I switched places with one of the priests. He told me the order of the ritual from beginning to the end, letting me know everything about it from word to word. I took his place and then I suppose you can figure out the rest."

"Did that priest teach you the language of the gods too?" Yugi asked, more to keep Bakura talking than out of curiosity.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," the white-haired teen said lowly.

"Try me," the smaller boy said.

Bakura laughed shortly. "It was before I met you. I was about six or seven years old when I sneaked into a temple to hide from the soldiers outside. In there I met a fellow… I suppose he's dead by now. He was the apprentice of the high priest of Re-Atum. The guy was about as old as I am now. He took me in and taught me everything he could."

"Why did he do that?"

Bakura grimaced at the memory of that day. "Because he fell in love with me."

Luckily Yugi was just done with the spell when Bakura told him that. Otherwise the thief could have lost his hand, and his entire arm for that matter. "He _what_?"

"I know what you mean. I thought I was going to die when he finally told me. Not that I didn't like the fellow, but in my eyes he was my brother or something. After all, I stayed with him for almost a year. Through that time I grew quite attached to him, and he was a great teacher. I guess that answers the original question of yours."

Yugi just nodded, but he knew it wasn't true. He still held on to Bakura's warm hand. "I thought… you didn't like me anymore," he half whispered, going back to what he wanted… no, _needed_ to know. "When you didn't come… I thought you had decided to leave me. I thought that you were mad at me."

"But it saved you," Bakura said, out of all things. Yugi looked at him, ready to cry at any moment. "I kept my eyes on you from a safe distance. Even though I couldn't hear the words, the way a priest handles with people about to be sacrificed is the same wherever you turn. They brainwash you to believe that your death will be for something high and mighty. I could see you weren't listening. I have been trying to teach you some theory, so I know the signs. You were worried about that, weren't you? That I wouldn't come after you at all?" He opened one eye to glance at Yugi, who nodded. "That's bullshit," the thief started again, causing Yugi to look up. "If something happens to you… I will probably go insane. I knew from the beginning it was a mistake of mine to take you in, but now that I have, nothing the men or the gods can do can make me leave you."

"Why… why is that?"

Bakura gently grabbed Yugi's head and made the little one rest it at his broad chest. "Because you are important to me now. Because I love you, my very own little magician."

That was when Yugi's dam broke. Until he finally fell asleep, he cried loudly into Bakura's chest.

"Your father was right," Bakura mumbled to the sleeping child in his arms. "I really do love you… more than you know, little treasure."

* * *

(1) I am sure all of you know this, but I tell you this anyway: Set is the god of war and disorganization. 

(2) Horus is the god of the living, the son of Isis and Osiris, and the opposite of Osiris. He fought with Set for the throne of Egypt

(3) Isis is mosty known as the sister and wife of Osiris. She's the Goddess of... I don't know the word, but she is the one you pray to if you want a lot of babies. She has great knowledge of magic and is the only god, beside Ra himself, who knows the secret name of the Ra.

(4) Geb is the god of the earth, or actually, he is the earth. Originally it is the word for Earth.

(5) The God of the air. His purpose was to keep his son and daughter, Geb and Nut, from melting together.

(6) Goddess of the moon. There is a moon god too, but he has another function too, so I let Tefnut be the moon.


	4. Malik and Jono

Just check my profile for information, okay? I'm too lazy to write all the information in here too.

On with the story and don't forget to review

(updated 10-08-14)

* * *

**4th chapter: Malik and Jono**

Bakura had almost fallen asleep when he suddenly felt something moving in Yugi's cloths. Careful not to wake the sleeping child, the teenager opened Yugi's sash so that whatever was in the cloths could get out. He actually wasn't surprised when he saw a small cat with ruffed fur walk out of the long robe that the boy was still dressed in.

"So you are here as well, Malik," Bakura greeted as he retied Yugi's sash.

He looked away as he cat grew into a beautiful young man with the same purple eyes as the kitten. "I needed to check on him, Bakura-friend," the boy said. "His father was really worried about him, so he sent me so that he wouldn't feel lonely anymore."

"Does he know?"

Malik shook his head in denial. "I thought it was the best if the young master didn't."

"Where's Jono? If you're here, he's surely not far away."

Malik smiled. "He will keep some distance to us until master Yugi is in need of his help. But he and I will always be around."

"I guessed that much," Bakura mumbled, softly caressing Yugi's hair. "Re-Atum must love this child very deeply, or he wouldn't have given him this second chance of life."

The blond man in front of him moved to Bakura's side and rested his head on the thief's shoulder. This close Bakura couldn't avoid seeing the cat ears that Malik had instead of normal human ears. The claws that replaced Malik's nails were razor sharp and could easily slice Bakura apart had Malik wanted to. Moving slowly behind him Malik's long tail betrayed his uneasiness. "Re-Atum will make him one of us again, once he is ready."

Bakura frowned slightly. "What about his memories?"

"Let us hope they never resurface," the cat-boy whispered fearfully.

Bakura frowned and looked at the sleeping Yugi with deep worry. The amethyst eyed boy didn't know it himself, and if Bakura could have done anything about it, he would have let it stay that way. Yugi was important not only to him, but to the Gods and the entire world as well. Marik had known it, and beside Bakura, he was the only one.

"Why did you deny the care of Yugi when master asked you?" Malik suddenly whispered, as if he had read the thief's thoughts.

"I didn't recognize him," Bakura confessed. "It wasn't until he used his powers when we ran from Marik's execution I realized who he was." He sighed at the memory. "Had he not missed the pharaoh I wouldn't have to worry yet for another year or two. But as it is now I await soldiers to pop up from around any corner and take Yugi away, knowing who he is."

"Yes, the pharaoh still hasn't given up his search for master Yugi. The world isn't filled with idiots. Sooner or later someone will realize the truth. There is nothing we can do about it."

Bakura held back the urge to growl. "Curse that pharaoh and his son," he hissed.

* * *

The next day, Yugi woke up first. As he was still in Bakura's firm grip he didn't move much. He settled down in resting his head against Bakura's strong chest. He suddenly realized how thin the thief was. His heart beat steadily and his breathing was regular, but his body was so thin. Had he eaten anything at all the last days? He must have at least drunken something or he would be dead now.

_Why haven't I realized it before?_

A soft mewling made Yugi look up at Bakura's shoulder. "Good morning, Malik. Did you sleep well?"

The cat blinked with its big, purple eyes. They seemed to smile at him in the early morning light. Then something happened Yugi sure wasn't prepared for; Malik bit down on Bakura's ear, effectively waking him.

"What the…? Oh, Malik. What do you want this early in the morning?"

Yugi stared at the older man. "Bakura, how do you… know what I named the kitten?"

"Huh? You named him?"

Yugi blinked in confusion and Malik bit Bakura's ear again.

"Ouch! What?" The thief stared into the cat's eyes for a sec. "Fine, I'm quiet."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Get up now, I can't feel my ass anymore."

* * *

They stayed in the oasis for the whole day. No one is stupid enough to travel through the desert during the hot of day. But as Ra began to fall, the duo started their short journey back towards Kemet, where the thieves headquarter was located. However, they only came halfway before they spotted something that almost made both of them forget everything about their destination.

"What the fuck is the pharaoh's caravan doing out here _now_?" Bakura hissed, unconsciously hiding Yugi in his cloak.

"They're travelling alongside the Nile," Yugi noticed.

"South? They're heading for Anuket?"

"Who?"

"Are you stupid or something. Anuket is the goddess of returning flood…"

"You mean…?"

A devilish smirk crossed Bakura's features, while a rather mischievous one played on Yugi's lips.

"They are bringing their sacrifice to Anuket to keep her pleased," Bakura mumbled, mostly to himself.

"What are we waiting for?"

"_You_ are waiting for another lecture in the art of thievery," Bakura smirked down at him. "Let's go."

* * *

The rest of the day the two thieves kept their distance to the pharaoh's caravan, most of the time trying to stay out of sight. Bakura kept Yugi in his coat for the chance they were spotted. Yugi couldn't say he minded. Bakura's coat kept him hidden from the sun.

"The sacrifice is about half of the goods they are bringing, the rest is food for everyone, the pharaoh mostly. You'd be surprised if you knew how much he gets to eat," Bakura told his apprentice while they walked.

"What are you planning?"

"Better leave the sacrifice alone. If Anuket is displeased we'll be starving next year. But we can make their travel very uncomfortable."

"I'm getting hungry."

"Ra has soon fallen, boy. Tonight'll be a feast. Can you tell which carriage is the pharaoh's?"

Yugi peered at the caravan. "The white in the middle?"

"That's the priest of Anuket's, most likely," Bakura informed, displeased. "White is the colour of priesthood, learn that."

Yugi looked back at the caravan. He noticed there were three different white carriages. It made him disappointed with himself. He should have noticed the first time. He peered again. It looked like…

"There's a golden carriage near the front!" he noticed.

"Bingo. Gold is the colour of the pharaoh. It is a little hard to notice against the sand, but that's the pharaoh's carriage. So that's the one you'll stay away from."

"But…"

"No buts, brat. He still hasn't given up on you."

"Meow!"

Yugi looked up at Bakura, surprised to see Malik hiding under his hair. He had just started to wonder where the cat had gone off to.

"Go hide in Yugi's hair for a moment. I'm fed up with you tickling my ear," the white-haired thief said as he lifted the kitten by the neck and put it in Yugi's arms. "Look after your pet yourself from now on, okay?"

"Sure," Yugi said, a little surprised Bakura hadn't said anything earlier.

* * *

By nightfall the caravan stopped and started to put up the camp. Yugi and Bakura was comfortably seated in the shadow of a sand dune where the sand was still warm from the day, but cool enough for them to enjoy it.

"Do you two know each other?" Yugi suddenly asked.

"Huh?"

"You and Malik."

Bakura looked down at his hand, which had without his consciousness been scratching Malik's neck. "It's a cat, of course I don't. But no one mess with Bastet's child."

"You called him Malik this morning," Yugi pointed out.

"So what?"

"So very much. I met and named him after my friend from home when I waited to be sacrificed."

Bakura slowly let his gaze move to the suddenly tense kitten. "Really now? You had a friend at Marik's castle?"

"She was my nurse, more or less."

Bakura blinked. "She?"

Malik bolted out from under Bakura's hand and hid in Yugi's cloths. "Malik, what's wrong."

Bakura shook his head. So that's why Malik had called Yugi "young master". The world was full of surprises, especially when the Gods had a hand with everything. "Okay, I get it. Let's wait here until the lanterns have been blown out."

Malik stayed with Yugi until Ra's light had faded. Yugi kept his eyes steadily on the camp, following the soldiers, memorizing their positions and routes. Bakura suddenly touched his shoulder gently.

"Stay here, I'll be right back."

The white haired thief was already gone when Yugi turned his head to ask what he was up to. He waited in silence for quite a long time, enough to make him wonder if the thief was okay. But Bakura appeared again just as suddenly as he disappeared.

"Where were you?"

"Taking us two steps ahead of the royal soldiers," Bakura mumbled with a cruel grin. "Just you wait, pharaoh."

A howl suddenly echoed through the cold night air.

"Desert hounds?"

"Come on, squirt. Let's get this party started."

More howls were heard, and it attracted the guards' attention to the other side of the camp. Yugi, slightly confused about the whole deal, easily sneaked into the camp, Bakura not far away.

The indigo eyed thief threw a sack into his apprentice's arms, pointing at the food carriage. Yugi nodded, knowing Bakura would cover his back. When dealing with the pharaoh's men, being two really were being two steps ahead. But Yugi would soon realize they were actually three.

Yugi somehow happened to kick a stone, attracting a jumpy guard's attention.

"Who's there?"

Cursing himself in his mind Yugi scanned the area for a possible escape route, when Malik suddenly came to his rescue. The cat jumped down from his shoulder, hit away a stone with one of his small paws and chased after it the way only a playing kitten can.

"It's only one of Bastet's children," the small boy heard an annoyed voice hiss, obviously very nervous and tense.

_Thank you Bastet, I owe you one,_ Yugi silently thanked the goddess.

He then made his silent way into the carriage to free it from as much of its burden as he possibly could, therefore he never noticed what happened on the outside.

Another howl was heard and Malik lifted his head from where he was playing with the stone. He mewled loudly, almost in excitement, as if recognizing the howl. He abandoned the stone and moved in direction of the howl.

"H-hey, Bast, you can't go out there. That desert hound will take you," the nervous guard called and followed the small, bronze/cream-coloured cat.

* * *

Bakura was enjoying himself royally. Yugi was safely grabbing some food for their nightly feast later, the howling made the guards easy to scare and lure, and he was right outside the pharaoh's tent, picking up the sticks holding the house-like tent up.

"Who's there?" a guard yelled as he was spotted.

"I'm the desert hounds' leader!" Bakura called back with a wolfish grin. "You better protect your king. There's no telling when…" he pulled up the only stick that kept the entire tent up. "A house will fall over him."

The tent fell and the guards all cried out in fright, which gave Bakura his time to sneak away. He could bet the entire Egyptian people could hear the pharaoh's roar when he awoke to the tent falling over him. The thief chuckled to himself in satisfaction. The whole camp was in panic and no one noticed him sneaking around the high priests' tents, pulling up the sticks as he passed, or how the noise of falling tents behind him widened his grin.

"Thanks a bunch, Jono. I owe you one," he mumbled to himself.

He met Yugi as the young one exited the food carriage with almost more food than he could possibly escape with. Grinning happily Bakura helped him carry the food away from the chaotic camp.

"What happened?" Yugi asked in that child-like curious manner. "What did you do?"

"Enjoyed myself," Bakura answered, awfully satisfied with himself.

"That much I understood from the noise," Yugi giggled. "What did you do?"

Grinning like a mouse that got the cheese Bakura lifted Yugi up with one arm, wanting to move faster. "You know what keeps a tent standing up straight?" he asked.

Yugi thought for a moment. He hadn't actually looked very close on a tent before. "Ropes?" he suggested.

Bakura laughed amused. "Partly yes. But more important are sticks. You need sticks to fasten the ropes in the ground."

"And you took them away?"

"Yup."

They arrived to cliffy part of the desert, not too far away from the camp but far enough for the caravan to miss them when they passed the next day, and lay out the food Yugi had picked out for them.

"Oh no! We left Malik behind," Yugi burst out and stood, prepared to go back for the cat.

"Don't worry. He'll find us again."

"But…"

"No buts, brat. Now sit down and enjoy the feast. Your pet will come back sooner or later."

Sooner rather than later. When Yugi hesitantly sat back down a mewling sound told them Malik was back. But he wasn't alone. Behind him came the biggest desert hound Yugi had ever seen in his life.

"W-what…?"

"Thanks for the help back there," Bakura said, obviously completely unaffected by Malik's company. "Here, have some meat as thank you."

The desert hound caught the meat thrown to him and lay down on a safe distance from the humans.

"Bakura! What on Geb…?"

"He's an old friend of mine," Bakura said calmly as he gave Malik a bowl of the goat milk Yugi had stolen. "Don't worry. He's pretty tame in comparison to others of his… kind."

Yugi glanced from Bakura, digging in on the food, to the golden desert hound, happily chewing the meat.

"You have strange friends," he stated.

Bakura smiled softly to himself as the memory replayed in his mind. "Maybe I have."

"What do you call him?"

The white-haired man glanced at the golden beast. "Jono," he said quietly. "The golden wolf of loyalty."

Yugi looked strangely at his guardian. It was rare for the thief to ever look so… tender. He had never thought the older to be so loveable about animals.

"Eat something, thief. Can't steal and then throw the goods away."

Shrugging his shoulders Yugi decided to leave it for now. Bakura would probably tell him when he saw fit.

* * *

"Bakura-friend. Wake up."

The thief opened his eye a crack, feeling a hand on his shoulder. He slowly recognized the voice. "Jono? What is it?"

"The pharaoh's scouts. They're coming this way," Jono whispered.

Calmly Bakura stood and climbed to a small fanglike rock where he had a nice view over the desert and Nile without being seen himself. Small shadows moved in the darkness, careful with their steps. Even in the dark the thief caught a glimmer of metal.

"The pharaoh goes with old methods," he mumbled to the wolf at his feet, who only growled angrily, fur standing straight up. "I take Yugi while you and Malik take the rest of the food."

The wolf nodded and silently made his way back down to where their temporary camp was located. Bakura looked away as the wolf started taking the shape of a human. He didn't know why, but seeing it always made the world spin and him want to puke. The first time he witnessed it he had fainted. He had no idea of why though. It wasn't a disgusting or even disturbing sight.

"You can look now, Bakura-friend," Jono's whisper reached him from beneath.

Bakura turned back and saw the human Jono smile at him. Just like Malik, Jono was stunningly beautiful. His hair was as golden as his wolf-shape's fur, his tan was darker than Malik's but softer than Bakura's, and he possessed an agile, strong and graceful body. His eyes, almost covered by his fringe, was somewhere between gold and bright brown. It depended in which light you saw them in. But where Malik had claws sharp enough to slice an elephant's skin, Jono had hard nails that could hardly slice, but his jaws and teeth were a different story. After all, while cats have claws, dogs have teeth, and the strength of Jono's jaws was terrifying. On his head he, just like Malik, had dog ears instead of human ones, and right now they were drawn back, almost melting together with his hair.

"By the way," the human wolf mumbled as Bakura picked up the sleeping Yugi in his arms.

"What?"

"Be more careful next time you near that caravan. The prince is there as well."

It was only the fact that they had scouts after them and that Yugi was sleeping Bakura managed to stop himself from cursing out loud.

"I didn't know either until I almost bumped into him," Malik whispered from Bakura's other side. "He smells just like the desert. I wasn't able to make him out."

None of the two friends could ever even start to imagine all the curses Bakura was silently throwing at the young prince and the pharaoh. "He will see Yugi over my cold, stiff, lifeless body," he growled, the other nodding in agreement.


	5. A pair of Amethysts

As promised, here's the next chapter of GoL story. Becasue of some difficulty in the story-line I'm sad to report that the updating pace will be very slow from now on. I promise I'll work hard to continue the story.

In the next chapter I may ask you for help about how to continue the story. Until then, enjoy the story.

* * *

**5th chapter: A pair of Amethysts**

For five years Bakura and Yugi, with Malik and Jono's help, made it a habit to make the pharaoh's life a hell. They would vandalise the gardens, spread rumours about things I won't mention here, steal food and jewellery (once they even stole two slaves), let out lizards, snakes and scorpions around his and the priests' chambers, to briefly mention what they did. All four of them enjoyed themselves royally these five years.

But the pharaoh seriously didn't.

"This must see an END!" the old pharaoh roared one morning "I can not TAKE anymore of this!" He was walking to and fro in front of his six most trusted priests and his seventeen year old son. The priests also known as the Millennium priests, because they were all masters of a golden Millennium item.

The prince looked away from his father. He too was annoyed to death about all the tricks the white-haired thief were terrorizing them with, but last night he had seen a shadow that for sure couldn't be the one who had given horrifying promises to kill him.

"Have you found out anything about those bastards?" the pharaoh growled, turning to the priest of Shu (1), Mahado. Mahado was young, but with the wisdom of a man three times his age.

"There appear to be four of them, with three animals, Light of Egypt, morning and evening star," the priest stated.

"Animals!? What kind of animals?"

"According to witnesses and almost wiped out tracks; one desert hound and a panther, and there have been found footprints of a small cat as well," the priest of Toth (2) spoke up.

"Desert hounds aren't tameable, Seto," the prince said as a matter of fact. "Nor is panthers."

"So we all know, your highness," Seto acknowledged. "Yet, I myself have heard the howl of a desert hound inside the castle walls. How they come into the castle though is still a mystery. The utter guards have never seen anyone slip inside."

"They call him 'Bakura, King of thieves ' in the city," Karim, the priest of Maat (3), brought up. "Given the name because he is the only one to be able to invade the palace. I have a spy ready to go into town and maybe find out Bakura's location."

"But I disagree to that," the only priestess in the group spoke up; the priestess of Isis. "Bakura is a very dangerous person who should not be underestimated. And whoever are his comrades, they are not to be taken lightly."

"Silence," the pharaoh ordered. "So all we got this far is their number and the leader's name. I want more than that. Karim, send your spy and find out his location. When we have it we will crush him once and for all."

* * *

A few days later the spy, in the cover of a pickpocket, found himself in the filthiest backstreet bar he had ever visited. It amazed him this kind of business could be running so freely in the shadows of the Pharaoh's city. Around him were other pickpockets, thieves, assassins and murderers… but no Bakura. It had taken quite a lot of him to get into this bar in the first place, since it was a shadowed secret place, and the town's thieves were nothing but suspicious about new faces. Luckily he had friends in town since earlier business. 

"Bakura should be ruling the palace now," the boy beside him whispered. He was a young fellow with onyx-coloured eyes and grey hair.

"He's the best," another whispered. "No one else is able to even go near the palace. Bakura could slip inside in broad daylight if he wanted and no one would ever notice."

"One of these days we will find the pharaoh's head hanging from his fingers," a third boy whispered. "Not that I understand why he hate the ruler so much?"

"Shut up, cups!" a drunken assassin scolded them. His mind seemed strangely clear for his rolling tongue and hiccups. "You're voicing your opinions without knowledge. Bakura is still young enough to be my son, and still he's more bloodthirsty than I am."

"And that says a lot," the onyx-eyed boy mouthed to the spy.

This was the first time Bakura's name was mentioned since he started this job. And he almost wished they hadn't. Bakura sounded like a demon in his ears.

All of sudden a young man in his early twenties entered the bar, but the spy didn't take much notice other than glancing up at him. The man had a very dark tan, lithe and muscular body and the whitest hair he had ever seen. He was dressed in battered cloths, bare-chested with a long, red coat hanging over his shoulders.

"Bakura!" a group called out to him. "It's always fun to see your ugly face. How was today?"

The spy almost chocked on his drink. _This_ was the feared Bakura? How could such a youngster cause the pharaoh so much trouble? And where were his friends?

"It's a child's play to sneak into the palace," Bakura smirked, stroking a wild mane of hair at the same time. "You only need to know where the door is located and walk straight in."

The spy locked his eyes on the small boy in Bakura's company. He was probably blind since he had a bandage covering his eyes. But that was not what caught his attention the most. The boy had hair so much like the young prince's, but his skin was so pale. His body was lithe and cat-like and he moved with more grace than any of the palace's dancers. He was beautiful. And he was obviously Bakura's possession, according to the way the white-haired thief's coat almost hid him from view.

"Stop braggin' 'bout it, scum. Take a drink instead."

"I prefer to stay sober tonight. Water for three."

Three? The spy looked Bakura up and down swiftly. He had more guys hiding in his cloths?

"You got that flea sack with you?"

Something small and red flew towards the one who had talked, and the man jumped back with a scream and his hands covering his face.

"Careful with what you say when Malik's around," the little boy under Bakura's coat said, his voice once again attracting the spy's attention. Was it possible for anyone to have such a… melodic voice? "He's a smart little one."

"Like Jono?" Bakura asked, causing the little one to smile.

"In another way."

"You really keep that boy under strict supervise," someone said, and Bakura, mostly unconsciously, pulled the little one closer to him. "I have already given you a fine prize for him. How many times do I have to raise it before you let him go?"

"I wouldn't let him go for all the treasures in the world," Bakura growled. "So get off my case. Some things are way more valuable than gold."

The spy leant closer, trying to get a better look at the boy, but suddenly he found himself staring into purple eyes surrounded with sand-coloured fur. He jumped back startled.

The cat stared at him some more before returning to its master. The spy peered at it as it mewled to get the white-haired thief's attention. Bakura looked at it for a moment, before his eyes started to drift over the collected in the room. The spy immediately looked down.

"Hey, Goz. Be a pal and open the door for a moment," Bakura called.

"Gimme a reason," the door guard barked in return.

"The pharaoh has sent a spy for me…" this sent the entire room into complete silence. Bakura's eyes were sharp, and a smug smirk played on his lips. "I can't really say who in this collection it is yet, but there is someone outside who may help me with the task."

Goz slowly opened the door and peered outside. "There's no one there," he announced.

"Come in Jono," Bakura called almost softly.

Goz jumped when something slim and golden slipped through the opening in the door.

"A dessert hound," the bartender gasped.

"It's a wolf," the little one corrected as the golden dog arrived to him. "It's Jonouchi."

"And a helping hand," Bakura smirked. "With a very sensitive nose." His sharp eyes once again took in the men around the bar, but the spy was a pro. He wouldn't be found out by being tense and nervous. He swiftly took in the air around and followed it, reacting like everyone else.

"Scum of the pharaoh's can't hide their scent," the little one said as the golden animal started to move through the crowd. "Like a killer can never wash the blood off his hands."

The spy didn't know what happened when the wolf suddenly bit down on his arm and brought him in front of Bakura… no. To the little one. Just who was in charge?

Bakura placed his muscular arms around the small boy's shoulders. "Well, you hate the pharaoh about as much as I do, but I will let you decide this low-life's fate. If there's something left when you're done, I want him."

The boy was silent for some time and the spy took his opportunity to recover from his shock and protest wildly. He didn't notice the blind boy turning his head and whispering into Bakura's ear. He also missed the cruel smirk adorning the white-haired man's face.

"You take him, Jono," Bakura said with a broad grin. "We're going home, and taking the low-life with us as a… honoured guest."

The wolf took the spy's arm between its teeth and dragged him along, not caring if it happened to bite down hard enough to break the bone.

* * *

The spy was dragged kicking and protesting through the backstreets out into the silent desert towards the river Nile. He was not a little surprised when he realized how close to the palace they lived, but not as surprised as to why they had never been found. He didn't even know how they ended up in the cave, lit up by softly shining stones in the walls and a small underground stream. 

"Make yourself at home, though you might not be here long enough to call it as such," Bakura said, smirking cruelly.

"I've told you time and again, I'm not the pharaoh's watchdog."

"And you believe you can fool Jono's nose? If you're gonna lie, come with one any of us can't see through."

"I'm telling you the truth!"

"If you two scream much longer you might attract the alligators."

Both immediately silenced at the little one's soft words. In the dim light the spy found him even more beautiful. He must have stared at the young boy for too long, because Bakura suddenly hit his head into the wall.

"If you look at him like that once more I'll feed the vultures with your living body."

"And that would be a shame. I was planning to ask him to kill the pharaoh for me," the little one said softly.

"In your dreams, brat."

The wolf was immediately close by him and growled dangerously, hair standing up and looking like he most of all wanted to finish him off at that moment. The little cat that had blown his cover hissed and shot its back up, showing lines of sharp, sparkling teeth.

"Easy you two. Why attack him for words Bakura use ten times a day?"

The two animals slowly backed away from the spy, but they kept their glowing eyes on him.

"It's not a good idea to be mean to him," Bakura said as he sat back. "They are more protective about him than I am, and then I can be described as a mother cat."

The spy cursed silently as the little one sat on a stone in front of him. "I'm not gonna kill the pharaoh. You can't make me."

"No?" Bakura said softly as the younger boy took off the bandage covering his eyes.

* * *

"So you're finally back, Muta? Did you find him?" Karim said. 

"I must see the pharaoh," the spy, Muta, said softly.

"He is busy with an important meeting with the council right now. I can tell him what you've found out once the meeting is over."

"No, must talk to him myself. Very important."

"What can possibly be so important the information can not be passed to me?"

"Where they live. I know where they live, and who is really the king of thieves. Bakura is only a cover."

Karim immediately understood. That kind of information should be given the pharaoh instantly. "I will inform our mighty pharaoh of your arrival."

Muta sat down in a chair to wait. His eyes scanned the room for a more promising weapon than the knife he had brought. His actual purpose wasn't really to kill the pharaoh. His idea was far more entertaining. Though the idea actually wasn't _his_. The real Muta's mind was gone, chocked under the pressure of something much greater. Muta would never regain his mind.

He had to wait for quite some time before he finally heard the sound of fast footsteps outside the room he was located in. The pharaoh stormed inside, prince in tow, together with the six Millennium priests.

"Tell me everything," the pharaoh growled, eager to finally be able to catch and execute the devil that had tormented him for five long years.

"I found… or rather, Bakura found me in a backstreet bar," Muta begun. "He is a dangerous youth, hardly older than twenty years old."

"Such a youth is able to break into the palace without the utter guards noticing?" Seto said before he could stop himself.

"No," Muta said lowly. "Bakura is not the one breaking into the palace. He is let in by someone else."

"Who?" the pharaoh demanded.

"By… ME!"

As he uttered the last word he drew his knife and leapt for the pharaoh, with the intention to kill. But he knew he would never make it. The Millennium priests were more than only priests. Most of them were trained fighters as well.

Karim grabbed a hold of his knife arm, Seto punched his face and Mahado threw him into the opposite wall.

"That is not true," Karim said with finality. "Muta would never have been able to know who Bakura was. I should know since I'm more or less raised him myself."

"I know none of you have any reason to lie to me," the pharaoh growled before he turned to his closest advisor, the head priest of Seth (4), his younger brother, Akhenaden. "Search his mind through."

The master of the Millennium eye was the oldest of the six priests, and the most merciless one. At the pharaoh's order his left eye, the Millennium eye, started to glow brightly, but almost immediately he covered his eye, yelling out his pain.

"Father, what happened?" Seto asked worriedly, helping his father.

As the old priest raised his head they all saw the blood running down his face from his golden eye.

"Isis, Mahado, take him to a healer," the prince ordered.

"…My pharaoh," Seto spoke up carefully, immediately making him a target for the ruler's mad glare. "Let me try. With the Millennium rod I can make him tell me anything."

Too mad to speak, the pharaoh only nodded.

"Be careful, Seto," the prince warned, not wanting his cousin to be hurt.

Seto only nodded as he raised the golden rod and aimed the eye at Muta.

_He found himself in the back of a large crowd. Before him he could see the execution stock, and there, under the gleam of the axe, was Marik. He couldn't hear the crowd, but the words Marik's mouth formed echoed through his head._

_The fallen lord was smiling lovingly. "I love you, Amethyst."_

_The scene changed and he was suddenly staring into the most enchanting eyes ever. Eyes of amethyst. He blinked before he took in the owner of the eyes. Breath stuck in his throat. The eyes belonged to Marik! But his skin was so pale he looked sick, and his hair was black, only broken by the gold framing his face.__ Then he noticed the hurt in his eyes, the pain, helplessness and hatred. Hatred aimed at the pharaoh._

"_Death to the pharaoh," he whispered with a voice of ice._

"Seto!"

The high priest's eyes snapped open and he realized he had fallen.

"Seto, are you alright?"

Alright? That was the last thing he was. "Marik…" he breathed.

"What? What with Marik?" the pharaoh demanded.

"Marik… Marik is… back. He's the one… Bakura…"

"Hush now, Seto. Don't push yourself too hard," the prince hushed. "I will take you to a healer and then everything will…"

"He will tell me NOW!" the pharaoh roared. "Seto, what did you see in his mind?"

"I-it wasn't… his mind," Seto said, his voice very hoarse now. "I-it was… a pair of… amethysts." And with those words Seto lost consciousness.

* * *

Yugi relaxed against Bakura's safe chest, completely drained of energy. 

"They almost caught me," he whispered, immediately feeling the thief tense beneath him. "But… father protected my image. Only letting my eyes show."

Bakura relaxed slightly. If the pharaoh ever caught Yugi his nightmares would become reality. "And how are you feeling?"

Yugi sighed tiredly, which said everything.

"Then go to sleep, you can tell me what happened once you have rested."

Yugi didn't need to be told twice. He was sound asleep almost as soon as Bakura ended his sentence.

The white-haired man held the young boy closer to his body, covering him with his coat.

"The pharaoh is a stubborn old bastard," the human Jono said lowly, afraid to wake Yugi up. Yugi still didn't know about his and Malik's other shapes.

"You said it," Bakura mumbled.

"But this isn't good, Bakura-friend," Malik said angrily. "The pharaoh must die, and soon."

"I know, but I believe Yugi must be the one to take away his light."

Jono growled in disagreement, but didn't say anything about it. "The pharaoh isn't the one I'm most concerned about anymore," he said instead.

"As the prince has grown older, he has become way more of a threat than the now living pharaoh," Malik agreed.

Bakura frowned in concern as he looked down at his young treasure. It was a little strange that this small 15-year-old boy could be mightier than the pharaoh and all his priests together. Yugi, a human boy with unique eyes, was loved by the gods, treasured by the gods, and by the only two left of his people.

"How could it come down to this?" he whispered as he hugged Yugi closely to him. "Why can he not be free from all this pain, from the life he lived before?"

Jono and Malik both hung with their animal ears. Once Yugi had been like them, but he had had to deal with a fate far more cruel than losing his family.

"He never deserved to suffer so much," Malik said, tears falling down his tanned cheeks.

"He never deserved to suffer at all," Jono corrected. "He was meant to be the God of our people. But not even we were completely free from greed and hunger for power."

"It wasn't you who caused him his pain," Bakura said softly. "It was that falcon, that poisonous Teana… and the pharaoh."

* * *

(1) Shu is the god of air, father of Nut and Geb. According to the legends it was his job to keep Nut and Geb apart so that they wouldn't melt together.

(2) Toth, the god of writing art and science. I know about nothing about this guy, but I thought he suited Seto (yes, it was a lame attemt of a joke)

(3) Maat, as I suppose most of you already know, is the goddess of justice

(4) Another lame attempt of a joke from my side. The Priest of Seth names his son after his god. Sorry.


	6. Their nightmares

I have a very good explaination to why I didn't update this chapter way sooner. It was because... well, you'll probably not believe me but here goes. I wrote the last half of this in the middle of the night and the next morning I had forgotten all about it.

Don't laugh! It's true. I figured out how to end this chapter yesterday, but when I was about to start to write I realized I had already written it. It's not funny! You hear me? Shut up! Stop laughing at me.

Well, if you're done laughing sometime today you might as well read this chapter (which I haven't read through myself yet.) Enjoy

* * *

**6th chapter: Their nightmares**

_It was no use. No matter how much he fought, he couldn't reach the pond. But if he gave up Yugi would die there, alone, __drowning in the misdirected hatred aimed at him. Yugi's body was badly wounded and his pure blood was dripping into the before so clear water of the pond that had always kept their people alive. Now it was being stained with a sacrifice it didn't need. He couldn't believe the people actually believed Yugi's blood would benefit their lives. It would be their death!_

_He tried to call out to him, but his voice drowned in the cries of the people, Yugi's people._

_Suddenly he felt the way too familiar touch of a reptile on his arm and he turned to Teana. She said something, but he couldn't hear the words. In anger and desperation he clawed at her scaly arm, drawing the cold blood out of it. He noticed how her eyes turned yellow in anger and then felt her long, poisonous fangs in his body. She filled him with her deadly venom._

_When she finally let go she smirked victoriously, having filled him with a deadly dose. But he couldn't feel the usual pain and numbness as he always had before when she had bitten him. He could see the confusion in her eyes before they were drawn to where Yugi hung above the pond. He followed her gaze and saw how Yugi's eyes were open a slit, revealing his brightly shining amethysts of eyes, telling everyone looking at him he used his powers. And he immediately knew what for. Yugi saw everything happening below him, and he now used his magic to make Teana's venom harmless. From the corner of his eye he saw the snake's eyes flash with anger._

_The huge falcon came at Yugi again, adding more wounds to his already badly battled body._

_The dark sky suddenly opened, and a flash hit Yugi's body head on. The young boy cried out his pain, before he was set aflame._

Malik few up from his position, ran through the cave and out into the chilly air. He was sweating and trembling without control. He stood there on all four in his third form, his human shape.

"A dream," he breathed.

"I think _nightmare_ would describe it better," Jonouchi's warm voice said from behind him.

Malik turned to the golden wolf, and realized he was crying. His vision was almost too blurred for him to recognize Jono's form.

"They are coming more and more often," the cat whispered as the wolf sat down beside him. Malik immediately clung onto his bigger friend's safe body. "I'm so scared, Jonouchi-friend. What if I lose him again? I… I can't take the loss again."

Jono gently embraced his little friend. Of Yugi's friends, Malik was the one who loved him deepest. In the life they had left behind they had been lovers, Yugi and Malik, but by the laws of the village and the false leader of the people they were forbidden to touch each other. The only way for them to love each other was with gazes and closeness, as was usual between felines.

Since Jonouchi was a wolf he didn't generally like cats of any sort, but it had been impossible for him not to love Yugi. His innocent devotion, his caring nature, his happy smiles. Yugi could have brightened up the world of their people. But he hadn't been allowed to. He, the falcon, Guto, had taken Yugi's place as the leader of their people. Therefore Yugi's life had become hard to live. And then the time came when Malik took Yugi with him on a mission. Yugi had been caught by the pharaoh, and that was when Yugi's life had started to go straight down to hell, until the painful moment he had been tortured to death.

"It won't happen again," Jono said lowly. "Re-Atum loved him enough to turn back the time, change history and let Yugi be born as Marik's son, as a real human."

"But he made sure Yugi kept his powers," Malik whispered. "And he made sure you and I would always keep an eye on him."

"And as Marik's son, Yugi is also protected by his spirit. So don't worry. Bakura, Marik and I won't let the pharaoh, or prince as he still is, capture Yugi in such a death-trap again. And you will do everything in your power to prevent it as well, won't you?"

Malik sniffed and tried to dry his eyes. "Of cause I will. I… I still love Yugi. I will… I will always love him, even if I never will be able to touch him."

* * *

Malik wasn't the only one with nightmares that night. Seto was twisting in his sleep, breathing heavily as he lived through a nightmare far beyond anything he had ever witnessed before. He was tormented by red-covered visions he couldn't understand. He saw soldiers fight to death in front of a demolishing castle. He was filled with desire to run to the man kneeling in the shadow behind the fallen castle, who was beaten by a man standing over him. He once again saw Marik lose his head, filling his heart with pain and hatred. Then he is fighting faceless men who bring him to a temple where he is forced to his knees as a poisoned blade lower to his throat when he is filled with hope- and helplessness. 

And then those enchanting amethysts stare at him, filled with hatred. _"Death to the pharaoh."_

Seto jolted awake, covered in cold-sweat and breathing uneven.

"Those eyes," he whispered to the darkness. "Those eyes."

The pair of amethysts that shone with such harm, sorrow and hatred hunted him. He couldn't get them off his mind. It was something familiar in them. He had seen those eyes before. In a dream or somewhere else, but he had seen them. But at that time they had been soft, loving and filled with devotion. But the more he tried to remember the more he felt like something terrible had happened to the owner of those eyes, and that he was somewhat responsible.

* * *

The first thing Yugi noticed once he woke up was that he was alone. He felt it even before he was really awake, and that was what made him open his eyes. He looked around for any sign of Bakura or his animal friends, but found none. 

Standing up Yugi went out of the cave and into the light of the rising Ra. Nut was innocently blue in the east though the sleepy dark blue still lingered in the west. The air was heavier than usual, which meant that the rain-period was closing in. But there were still no signs of Bakura.

Beginning to worry Yugi walked closer to the river, until his feet was covered with the clear water. Somehow it always amazed him the water could be so clear when it looked to dirty from afar . And whenever he dipped a toe he could see the bottom of the broad lake, at least within four feet out. Yugi looked up and down the shoreline for any sign Bakura was around, but still couldn't see anything.

"Are you taking a bath?"

Yugi jumped around at the sound of a voice behind him, but was reviled to see the white-haired thief behind him. "You scared me," Yugi stated lowly, not meaning he had been surprised by the elder's sudden appearance.

"Sorry, but I had to check the surroundings. I have the feeling the pharaoh will try something soon."

"He will," Yugi stated as walked out of the water, not noticing how it slowly got dirty without his touch. "But I almost have a hold on one of his priests. Somehow my mind has linked with his and he lives through my nightmares."

Bakura's eyes got a sad glint in them. "You're still having nightmares?"

Yugi smiled and hugged his friend tightly, burying his face in Bakura's broad chest. "Sometimes," he answered the question softly. "But then I open my eyes and see your sleeping face near mine, and then I often lay as close to you as I can."

Bakura smiled as he returned the hug, combing the young treasure's hair with his fingers. "Yes, I noticed you lying closer to me than when I fell asleep those nights. You curl like a kitten."

Yugi looked up at him with a pout.

"You're cute, my boy," Bakura smiled, his scarred face unusually loving. "My very own little treasure." _As long as that may last,_ he added silently in his mind.

* * *

Seto stood with lowered head in front of the pharaoh. The prince and the rest of the Millennium priests were there as well, wanting to know what they thought Seto could explain to them. 

"Do you still remember what you saw in Muta's mind yesterday?"

Seto nodded his head slowly.

"Then clarify to us what you saw. Marik is dead, that much we all know. You saw his head roll with hundreds of other witnesses."

Seto nodded again. He had witnessed the execution, but someone else had been there as well. Those Amethysts.

"Speak up, boy," the pharaoh ordered harshly.

"It was not the mind of Muta I saw, Holy one," Seto started, trying his best to describe what had happened. "Someone had taken control over his mind and body, but in a different way than the Millennium Rod. It was like Muta's will… or the other person's… it was the same will and Muta did what he did out of his own free will."

"You mentioned that Marik was the one who has actually tormented us for five years," the prince stated before his father could open his mouth to order Seto to give answers he didn't have. "Or so I believe you tried to say. You also said it was not Muta's mind you read, but a pair of amethysts?"

Seto shivered visibly. "A pair of very enchanting amethysts, my prince." He was about to explain when he found he couldn't. Something was holding him back. He frowned in confusion.

"Can it be what Marik mentioned before he died?" Mahado asked.

As Seto was about to answer yes he instead heard himself say; "I don't know." He frowned again.

"But Marik said it was only one," the prince stated as a matter of fact. "Can it be that he somehow entrusted Bakura with his treasure before you attacked him?"

"We searched the entire area for some kind of hidden tunnel, but found none," Karim informed the prince.

"The entire castle demolished. If there were any tunnels beneath it of cause they would disappear," the prince argued.

"_At least the prince __seems to have some common sense."_

"Huh?" Seto turned to look for the source of the voice.

"_So you can actually hear me? Then we are deeper connected than I thought,"_ the voice said.

It took the priest a few seconds to realize it was the same voice that had whispered in his dreams throughout the night. He paled.

"_You don't have to speak out loud to me. I can hear your thoughts. You shared my nightmares tonight after all."_

Seto swallowed hard and closed his eyes. In his mind he was met by those beautiful amethyst eyes, but the rest of the owner's face was harder to make out. At first he thought it was Marik, but then he saw a pretty female with tanned skin and blond hair, then a male with white hair and a scar under the right eye. The face changed constantly until Seto couldn't tell one face from the other. Only the eyes stayed the same. _Who are you?_

The eyes blinked and Marik's face stared at him. "Isn't that obvious?" he asked.

Seto shook his head and the face changed again, to the white-haired with the scar.

"Seto?"

The priest looked up at his cousin who had a look of concern covering his face.

"I'm connected…" Seto started, fighting against the other mind.

"Connected? What do you mean?"

Seto hit a hand over his forehead as pain shoot through his head. He fought to get the words out in the right order, but he failed. "A pair of Amethysts in my mind…"

_The axe lowered over the fallen lord's neck._

"Nightmares of the execution."

_A strong hand on his shoulder as __his home demolished._

"Homeless."

_The look of pure sadness on Marik's face._

"Seto, snap out of it!" the prince cried.

Two minds collided in a storm of emotions and images.

"A wish of death…" Seto whispered as his eyes swiftly lost all focus. "Death to the pharaoh."

* * *

Bakura caught Yugi as the younger suddenly fainted. 

"His mind must have collided with the young priest's," Jono said.

"How is that possible when they were connected?" Bakura asked.

"Seto's mind is strong," Malik said lowly.

"Seto?"

"The young high priest of Toth and the prince's cousin. He has the Millennium rod in his possession, making him the only one Yugi could possibly connect with."

"What about the Millennium eye?"

"A man like Akhenaden can't look into a soul like Yugi's. He'd go blind for sure. Besides, the eye can only scan the brain for information. Only the rod can connect a mind to another."

Bakura frowned.

"But Yugi told me something about the Millennium items once," Malik said slowly. "The seven items were smith in the blood of 99 lives. The lives of your village, Bakura-friend."

The white haired thief smiled bitterly. "Oh, I remember that night. I will never be able to forget."

"They praise him as a god. But in reality the pharaoh is nothing but a murderer. One allowed to kill."

"Old bastard. As if taking lives was no big a deal. The rich sure doesn't know the value of life."

"Maybe that is why so many of the people wish to see them die?" Jono said, his nose wrinkled in bitterness.

Bakura looked out over the sparkling river Nile. From the shadows under a few rocks where they hid from the sun it looked so innocent. He couldn't help but wonder how it could look so welcoming when it hid such deadly traps as currents, hippopotamuses, alligators and swampy grounds that could swallow one whole. That was at least something the Nile had common with Yugi's appearance. They both looked innocent, but they both hid dangerous traps.

Yugi groaned in his arms, drawing Bakura's attention back to him. Malik and Jono were already in their first forms once again. The young one slowly opened his eyes.

"Yugi?"

Named boy sighed deeply, as if having trouble to breathe. "I'm fine," he said quietly.

"Liar," Bakura accused.

"Sorry."

The white-haired man looked at the boy with worry. Yugi kept taking deep, even breaths, but it sounded painful.

"What happened?" Bakura asked lowly.

A tear escaped Yugi's tight guard and slowly ran down his pale cheek. "He tried to tell on me," he whispered. "I tried to stop him but he continued to talk. He fought back… I don't know how much he managed to tell about me."

Jono lovingly licked away the tears of frustration that escaped Yugi's eyes. Malik sat on the young boy's chest and meowed worriedly, as if wondering why Yugi was hurting.

"I know he told the pharaoh about a pair of Amethysts. The priests of Seth that caught me saw my eyes. If the pharaoh goes out with the information he has about me they will surely go and tell him everything; who I am and where they found me. Then I can no longer be seen by other people than you, Bakura. Having seen me once I'm not soon, if ever, forgotten. I'm just… too eye-catching."

Bakura frowned. His nightmares reminded themselves in his mind. If the pharaoh got too close to the knowledge of Yugi's existence he had two choices: Kill the pharaoh… or kill Yugi. He had made a promise to Marik; to let Yugi live without the pharaoh's knowledge. Marik had said that Yugi didn't have to become old, just to let him live in freedom. But what kind of freedom was this? Yugi had to hide his eyes every time they went into a crowded place. He covered himself, hid himself from view in Bakura's cloths. In reality, Yugi was really lonely. And it would stay that way as long as the pharaoh was alive.

And how many times hadn't Bakura awoken with a start from a nightmare of having coloured his hands red in Yugi's blood?

"This can't go on," he whispered.

Jono growled in agreement.

"Sleep now, son," Bakura whispered. "We're invading the palace tonight. The pharaoh must die."


	7. Songs of the Past

I'm so awfully sorry for the long wait and that I didn't update this one when I returned from my vacation. The only explanation I have is that I wanted to give you a longer chapter to pay for the long wait I've put you through. I'm still not entirely sure where this is going, but I'm getting the picture slowly and evenly. Don't worry, I will finish it (some day).

Now enjoy the chapter, though it ended up way shorter than I indended.

* * *

**7th chapter: Songs of the past**

Yugi stood in the shadow of the north wall of the palace. The light of Ra never reached this part of the pharaoh's defences, and was therefore the perfect place to sneak into the palace grounds. And sneak in it was. Yugi and Bakura had dug themselves under the wall and into the garden five years earlier, and the guards still hadn't noticed their way in. It may be because of the bush they placed in the hole to cover it, which Yugi kept green with his magic.

"Each time we come back here I keep thinking the pharaoh has set up a trap on the other side," Yugi whispered. "And each time we pass I'm just as surprised to find he hasn't noticed it yet."

"It took us forty nights to dig it with Jono's help," Bakura muttered and the corner of his mouth went up at the memory. "And with Malik as guard, who would ever catch us?"

"And the pharaoh has doubled the guard of every little entrance of the palace to grab us. He can't seem to wrap his mind around a secret way in."

"He can't wrap his mind around the thought that anybody can sneak into his palace from _beneath_ his great walls."

"Ants are invisible," Yugi whispered before he gracefully got out of the rabbit hole they'd made. "But their work isn't."

"Way to compare thieves to ants," Bakura accused as he followed, just a little less graceful because of his size.

"But I'm right."

Bakura only nodded and Malik jumped onto his shoulder.

Jono had his own way in that not even Malik knew about. He would sit at the hole when Yugi, Bakura and Malik crept through only to wait for them on the other side once they made it through.

"I so want to know how you get in here," Yugi whispered to the wolf, which just blinked at him.

Bakura's eyes took in the sight of the palace, his memory seeing through the walls, seeing the rooms and corridors and the shadows of people that usually walked through them.

"That's the pharaoh's chamber," he mumbled as his eyes landed on the balcony which made the roof of the room below.

"And the prince has his on the other side of the building," Yugi whispered.

The older thief's eyebrows furrowed together, giving him a troubled expression.

"Let me go for the pharaoh," Yugi said. "Let me be the one to kill him. Let me open the lid I put on my hatred for all these years."

Determined amethyst eyes locked with dark indigo.

"He will die from age any time now," Bakura said calmly. "He's not really the problem anymore. But do as you please. It doesn't matter to me since I'm going for the prince. It is him I fear."

Malik jumped from Bakura's shoulder to Yugi's, silently telling them he would go with the younger one. Jono didn't seem to care about them as he quietly made his way though the garden alongside the wall, but suddenly he stopped and turned his head as if he waited for someone to follow him.

Bakura got up and went after the wolf. "He seems to know a way into the palace," he whispered to Yugi. At that the younger immediately followed.

* * *

The pharaoh was having bad dreams. Marik reached out for him with hands red from his own blood, and all around him souls cried in agony and reached out to bring the pharaoh down with them.

"Stop it. Don't touch me with your dirty hands. I am the Pharaoh!"

But the crying souls kept reaching out for him. He actually recognized many of them. They were bandits, villains, criminals, tomb robbers and thieves. All of them he had sent into death.

* * *

Bakura and Yugi sneaked around the place like shadows. In the end of one corridor Jono went one way and Malik the other. The thieves looked at each other, silently agreeing.

Yugi followed Malik to the old Pharaoh's chamber while Bakura snaked his way to the prince's.

The pharaoh's chambers were more heavily guarded than Yugi had suspected. The old man was clearly paranoid about his own security. He bit his lip in thought as he hid in the shadows of a corner with Malik wrapped around his ankle. How to get past all these guards?

Malik's purple eyes looked up at him, as if asking him what to do now. Malik could sneak around the guards since he was a cat, but Yugi was human and was he spotted he was dead. The small boy crewed on his lip in thought, then smirked as he realized how easy his problem could be solved.

'How do you fool a guard?' he asked no one in particular as he moved back and out of sight for the guards. Around a corner he took a small stick from his clothes that he used to aim his unruly magic. 'Illusion,' he answered his own question and light sparkled thorough the hallway, attracting the guards outside the pharaoh's chambers.

Yugi crept in the shadows his magic created as the stupid, male guards stared at the harem they thought themselves to see. The small boy shook his head at their stupidity. 'That's what they get for not having female soldiers anywhere.'

Malik was impressed. The lightshow Yugi had created used the air from the entire palace to caress the humans' skins, making them really believe they were in a harem. He could hear them move farther away as the lights fooled them. Once they realized they had been tricked it would be too late. The treasured magician was now alone with the door to the pharaoh's chambers.

'And of course that stupid, paranoid idiot just had to have magical seals on the door as well,' Yugi thought with an annoyed snort as he put his hands on the wood. He trailed the seals and was surprised to find them much weaker than he had expected. Was this the best the son of Osiris and Isis could muster?

Malik smiled slightly as he watched Yugi's confusion. He knew it, he could feel the seals on the door without touching it. It wasn't that the pharaoh's spells were weak, it was just Yugi that was strong.

The amethyst eyed boy undid the seals, one after one, still confused at the weakness if the spells. It took no longer than two minutes to undo them all and the doors opened a crack, just enough for his lean form to slink through. Malik followed and Yugi shut the door silently behind them.

Inside they were faced by two huge chambers worthy of a human god. Gold and stone filled the room along with treasures from far away countries; perfumes, statuettes, silk, velvet, jewelled statues, cloths and much more. It was rooms that any thief would die to touch, but Yugi just turned up his nose at the unpleasant smell. He was used to the fresh air outside and didn't like the air in here at all.

"Let's get this over with," he breathed to Malik and ran silently towards the second room where he heard the pharaoh turn and mumble in his sleep.

"Get away from me."

The cat and thief froze at the words believing the pharaoh had awoken.

"Don't touch me, you filthy bastards. I am the pharaoh. Bow you heads."

The intruders relaxed as they realized the king was having nightmares and talking in his sleep. They crept closer. Now the small boy started to think of ways to kill the ruler of Egypt. He had never killed before, and now when he was about to assassin this man, the murderer of his father, he hesitated. He looked closer at the hated figure. The pharaoh was old he realized. Very old. Yugi smirked lightly. He didn't have to make this a bloody scene. He placed his hand on the king's warm, sweaty forehead and made his way into his mind.

* * *

A sea of blood-soaked shadows met him in the pharaoh's dreams. They were all reaching out for the one who had sent them to death, the old man with a weak heart.

In the shape of a light Yugi stepped out into the sea. At first he just silenced the crowd of shadows, but then he turned to face the man responsible, the man drowned in the blood of a thousand. The amethyst eyes looked around as he started to sing, scenes following his words.

_All the things happening_

_Wish I didn't remember_

_Hear the songs of the past_

_Songs of pain and a cry for cure_

The shadows came forth and danced with the boy of light. They were dead, and he was alive. They joined his song with their crying voices.

_I'm surrounded by their song_

_Wish of life, but the pain's too strong_

_Must it be my memory_

_Of hate and tyranny?_

The light spun around for the pharaoh's eyes, making the shadows dance with him as the song grew in strength.

_Look at the faces of all the men_

_Children, women, all innocent_

_Their blood has coloured your soul in red_

_Still you dare to demand our love_

The shadows became people, men, women and children, all killed in attacks of villages holding a criminal or executed. The light that had been so warm became cold.

_Memories that fill my mind_

_You can look but you can not find_

_Tunes to stop this melody_

_His endless tyranny_

The light danced wilder than before and the shadows, the people, joined him, surrounding the old pharaoh with their fear and pain, choking him.

_Look at them_

_See their eyes_

_They were killed right before you_

_Stoned, beheaded think of more_

_All are names for the same thing_

Marik stepped out of the shadows and the light stopped in front of him.

_Look at them_

_The innocent_

The pharaoh looked at them as the rest of his world faded away as he fell into the arms of those he had sent to death.

_Dead because of __your greedy mind_

Marik kissed the light's forehead before he faded away.

* * *

Yugi opened his eyes, finding himself on his knees beside the corpse of the old pharaoh. He took his hand away from the now cold forehead and dried it on the material of the covers. He didn't realize he was crying until a drop fell onto his legs. The young boy lowered his head.

"Rest in peace now, my father."

Malik mewled quietly from the balcony and Yugi followed him. They would climb down the wall outside now that they had completed their mission. They would wait for Bakura at the entrance of the hole they had dug together.

* * *

Bakura, having only Jono to help him, was having a tough time. For some reason the guards were really awake tonight and he had to avoid thin tentacles of shadow magic every here and there. How Jono managed to stay invisible with his golden fur was a mystery.

"Who's there!?"

Bakura swore at himself for sighing, but Jono came to his rescue in a way Bakura sure wasn't prepared for. He rounded the corner and looked at the guards, completely visible. The indigo-eyed thief was sure his heart had stopped beating.

"Oh, it's just you, Anu," the guard said with a quiet sigh of relief. Bakura stared with his mouth open.

"Is it Anu again? You sure are sniffing around here a lot these days."

The white-haired thief made a mental note to kick the wolf for not telling him he was friendly with the palace guards. Now he almost knew how he got in every time.

"Have you found the one you're looking for yet?" the first guard asked the golden wolf as it moved its nose to the floor, sniffing around. At the question Jono looked up shortly, before lowering his nose to the floor once again. "I suppose that means no."

Jono snorted, almost like he answered, and passed the guards with his nose against the floor.

"Smart dog," the other guard said as he stared after the golden furred animal. It gave Bakura the moment he needed to sneak from one shadow to the next.

The golden wolf obviously knew his way around very well, because he was back around the thief in the matter of minutes. Bakura gave him a nasty look, which Jono answered with a whip of his tail.

'How on Geb am I supposed to get past this?'

The prince's chambers were sticking out so much because of all the guards walking around. And that was the problem. They didn't stand still like most guards did. They were constantly moving.

Once again Jono came to his rescue. There was a cat sneaking around in search of rats, and it was highly treasured by the palace guards and servants. Not even Jono, who was friendly with most guards, would stay safe if he attacked the cat. He started to growl deep in his throat as the milky white cat came around the corner. It immediately shot back and hissed at the golden wolf. The guards stopped and watched worriedly.

"No, no, Anu. No hurting Bastet's child."

It was like the guard's words were the signal for the chase to begin. Jono barked loudly and shot towards the cat, which in turn tried to defend itself with her claws. She missed and had to take flight down the corridor. The guards reached for their weapons and chased after them under loud curses.

Bakura had to shake his head, admiring Jono's ability to always attract attention to him, and using it to his advantage. He wished he could see the faces of those men if Jono took his second form. He had seen it twice himself and still didn't have a good name for the huge animal.

Now the path to the prince's chambers was freed from guards. Bakura crept up to the impressive door.

* * *

Yugi had curled up in the shadow of a large tree. He sure wasn't spoiled with trees since the land was mostly covered by dry bushes and high grass. His ears were sharpened and his eyes flying over the palace in front of him. Malik sat on a branch above him, spying for any kind of movement in the prince's rooms.

Both of them almost flinched as the prince himself turned up on the balcony, looking up at Tefnut with a longing stare. Malik shot back in immediate anger, but didn't make a sound. Yugi stared in surprise. He had never seen the prince in real life before and was hit by how much his hair looked like his own.

'So that is the new pharaoh?' he thought with his head tilting to one side. From this distance it was hard to make out any details other than the dark skin, white cloths and explosion-like hair.

Malik climbed down the tree's trunk and stood in front of Yugi, his fur standing out in a level of rage Yugi didn't know an animal was capable of. The prince must have done something terrible to him once…

It felt like a shadow that touched Yugi's mind at that thought. Something had hurt Malik, but it wasn't Malik who had been wounded. Sounds almost broke though, but were gone as soon as Yugi thought he heard them.

A loud bang made Yugi, Malik and the prince jerk and turn their eyes to the darkness inside the palace.

* * *

Bakura broke through the spells on the pharaoh's doors and opened them with a loud bang. As he stepped inside and closed the doors behind him he saw the prince in the opening of the balcony.

"There you are, prince of doom and death," he hissed lowly and moved towards him.

"Are you Bakura?"

Bakura took out a knife he had had hidden in his cloths. "Nice to hear you remember me. I will kill you tonight, pharaoh."

Prince Atemu had since birth been trained in hand to hand combat and shadow magic so he wasn't really fazed by Bakura's knife. What did was the word he called him by.

"I'm not pharaoh yet, thief. My father is still alive."

"It doesn't matter to us. You're the one bringing doom to the Gods most beloved treasure, forcing them to turn back the time and change history. You think the Gods will forgive you for tainting their treasure a second time?"

"What are you talking about?" The prince's voice was dangerously calm and low. His crimson eyes were almost glowing in the gloom.

"Sixteen years ago, this same year with a different history, you claimed the Treasure of the World as your own, forcing the death of an entire people. If I don't kill you the Gods must once again reach for their forbidden powers and change something not meant for them to touch, because you will once again claim the Treasure of the World as your own, once again bringing this world to an end."

The prince had no idea what the thief talked about, but as the white-haired man spoke he collected his powers to kill him.

* * *

Yugi's eyes changed as he sensed the growing strength of dark magic coming from the prince's room. He stepped out into the moonlight before Malik had a chance to stop him.

Something bad was about to happen. Yugi remembered. _Uncontrolled emotions, pain, a silent wish, a cry for help._

Amethyst eyes lowered and met the blue eyes of the priest of Toth. _A tender devotion._

The blue eyes widened and the body belonging to them was left unable to move.

Yugi picked the petals of two red flowers.

* * *

Bakura suddenly noticed the amount of dark magic circling the young pharaoh and cursed his own hatred for blinding him to this degree.

The prince smirked. "As if you could ever kill me."

Before the prince could aim his magic a wind blew through the open balcony, bringing a whirl of crimson flower petals.

"We must leave, Backurra."

Yugi stood in front of his guardian and looked at him with a calmness and wisdom Bakura recognized from so long ago. And the way he pronounced his name. This was the true Treasure of the World.

Yugi blew on his second hand of petals and the magical wind caught and surrounded them in crimson, turning the two humans into winds and crimson petals that left the room and palace towards the desert.

The prince followed the red petals with his eyes. The events the Gods had tried to avoid by turning back the time repeated themselves in a way they hadn't prepared for.

The pharaoh had laid his eyes on Yugi.


	8. The forgotten place

Here I am, finally (I feel like digging my worthless grave in a swamp). I'm more than sorry. Such a long wait and such a short chapter. I'm ashamed of myself. But I kept my promise, didn't I. I updated before the end of the year (about the oonly thing to be proud of).

* * *

**8th chapter: The forgotten place**

Bakura refused to talk to Yugi as they travelled south beside the river of Nile, on the run from the new pharaoh who would come after them as soon as he was officially Egypt's new ruler. Yugi was confused. He couldn't remember how they had gotten out of the palace last night, or getting out in the desert. He had asked Bakura about it but the white haired man hadn't answered. The indigo eyes kept scanning the surroundings, tilting his head when listening for something.

Jono followed close in Bakura's heels and even Malik seemed angry with Yugi where he sat on the elder's shoulder.

Suddenly Jono stopped and turned his nose west. Bakura turned and looked at the wolf, then turned his gaze towards where it looked.

"May Geb make sure it is safe," the thief mumbled.

Bakura took out his water bag and filled it with the water of Nile before he turned and started out the plain wasteland of Egypt. This near the river grass grew high and bushes and twisted trees were a healthy green. Malik took a mighty jump into the air and managed to catch a bird in flight. Yugi was most impressed, but Bakura simply caught the two when they fell and broke the fighting bird's neck, as if it was something he did every day.

Yugi was still confused about the bond between Malik and his guardian. The two seemed to know each other so well. And then there was Jono. A golden wolf with intelligent brown eyes. There was something very special about the animals, he just had to figure out what. He had waited for five years for Bakura to tell him, but the white-haired thief never mentioned anything about it. It was like it was supposed to be this way.

"Bakura. Where are we going?"

"To a place where I hope that bastard won't go after us," Bakura answered for the first time that day. Yugi watched his friend's movements, noticing how tense he was.

"You're scared." It was a statement, and Bakura wasn't late in letting him know exactly what was on his heart about it. He turned blazing eyes at the younger and growled.

"And whose fault do you think that is? The pharaoh has seen you. What the hell do you think will happen to the world now?"

Yugi stepped back from the intense anger and fear he felt behind Bakura's gaze. He knew what was going on while Yugi didn't have a single clue. Then he had to run to keep up with the angered thief's strides.

Bakura was actually more than angry. He was furious with himself and frustrated that he couldn't do anything. He had to take Yugi far away until the new pharaoh had forgotten all about him.

As if that was ever going to happen. Last time one look at Yugi's eyes had been enough to have the young one locked up in a golden cage as the pharaoh's pet. The king was egoistic and saw it as his right to own everything. But the Treasure of the World belonged to everyone and no one. What under Ra and Tefnut's eye would happen if the treasure was suddenly claimed by one single person? Nothing pleasant, that was for sure.

Jono stopped under a tree and Bakura growled at him before sitting down and threw the bird at Yugi.

"I won't light a fire, so eat it raw or use your powers to make a proper meal of it."

"I can't do that."

"Then eat it raw."

Yugi stared at his guardian. "What about you?"

"Not hungry."

"What if I'm not either?"

"Then give it to Malik or whatever."

Yugi frowned confused and didn't have time to react when Malik snatched the bird and ran off with a golden wolf on his heels.

"Break is over, let's get going," Bakura grunted and stood.

"Jono and Malik."

"Will catch up. Get off your ass and follow me."

The thief king refused to say more for the rest of the day. At noon they rested in the shade of a rock and checked their supplies. Half of the water was gone and they had little to no food. Bakura had tied little bags, like shoes, on Malik and Jono's paws so that they wouldn't get burnt in the boiling sand. The furry animals seemed to long for the chill of the night as both seemed more worn out than their human friends. Yugi was sweating and felt rather sticky and longed for the evening as well, but he wasn't going to complain. Bakura sweated too but wasn't as worn out as the others. Yugi really envied his wiriness on days like this when they had to travel the desert during the day.

They rested for a few hours, Jono catching some sleep alongside a half sleeping Bakura. Malik had dug a hole near the rock and was hiding there, seeking coolness. Yugi meditated. Everything around him was breathing and he had just started to make out the messages that were sent across the desert.

_Things were happening outside the desert's boundaries. The Nile was restless and many people were moving towards the same place. A stone building, the Pharaoh's palace. A golden object was added to__ many smaller ones. A golden eye stared at him._

Yugi awoke with a start from his meditation. He had been seen. Something was looking for him. They had to move… The young boy frowned at the panic that started rising in his throat, not understanding why he suddenly got so afraid. That eye was the symbol of the Millennium items, the symbol of the Pharaoh. Why was he so afraid of that?

But suddenly he knew who was most afraid of the four of them. He made his way over to Bakura and touched him lightly. The expert thief caught his hand in a reflex and opened an eye to glare at him.

"The golden eye has seen me."

Bakura jerked and rose so swiftly he hit his head in the stone and swore between his teeth. Malik sprang out of his hole, shook sand out of his fur and took the lead into the desert. Bakura, still holding Yugi's hand, almost stumbled out of the shade and Jono pushed lightly from behind as they all hurried west, towards the setting sun.

"Bakura! Why are we in such hurry? I can hide us from the eye if-"

"That doesn't matter. Those fucking items were smith with the blood of my family. They are connected to me and I can't hide no matter how much I try. The old Pharaoh was blinded by greed, but the new one has his eyes wide open for you."

A memory awoke under Yugi's consciousness. _An illusion, a pair of gentle hands that held him prison, desperate cries from someone who loved him. A golden fur._

Yugi turned around to Jono who followed on their heels. Malik's quick legs had brought him ahead, knowing the way and their destination. Last Yugi's eyes landed on Bakura's broad back. _A hand that tried to help._

"What happened?" he asked quietly. "What happened? I went from one prison to another protected by an illusion."

Bakura and Jono both stopped so suddenly Yugi ran straight into his guardian. The indigo eyes stared down at him with dismay. Then he just sighed tiredly, like all strength suddenly left him. "I hoped you wouldn't remember." He looked into those wide amethyst eyes, seeing the innocence, the purity that Marik had died to protect. He sighed again, his pain visible on his face. "I will tell you… when we arrive."

Yugi nodded in agreement, unwilling to cause his friend even more pain.

* * *

It was just a hole in among the rocks. Somewhere in time the stones had been houses, now abandoned and left at the mercy of Amun- Ra. One of the stones had once been a statue. Yugi could only tell because of a part that was still intact.

Bakura looked around. He had been here once and still he remembered exactly what it had looked like back then. The statue Yugi was staring at was Ihi *1 in his young boy form. The birds of the village had worshiped him.

In another part of the village, where he knew Teana had lived, stood what was left of the statue of Apophis *2 and Meret-Seger *3. Why the two of them were there together he still couldn't figure out.

Malik and Jono refused to enter the ruins of their village and could only watch as slowly the memories returned to their young friend.

_Guto had stolen his place by threatening to harm Malik. Teana worshipped S__eth and Nephthys *4 who wanted the blood of the real leader. The young pharaoh who held him prison in a golden cage. Priest Seth who smelled of water and understood. An illusion to hide himself._

Yugi's feet brought him to the centre of the village. Once it had been the sacred spot, now it was only a red coloured hole. What had once given them life had become their death because they had sacrifice the Treasure of the World. Because they had believed in Guto's lies that the unfortunate they had faced was because he had let himself be caught by the pharaoh.

Bakura watched as his little friend slowly walked down into the oasis that had in a time before been here and that the Treasure of the World had kept clean. He had been there during the ceremony, feeling more hopeless and worthless than when his family was killed one by one for the creation of the Millennium items. Even now the sight of the red hole squeezed his heart and tied his insides into hard knots. This place carried so many painful memories. And what had happened after the ceremony he didn't even dare to recall. It still brought despair to the core of his soul.

When he got down to the bottom of the former oasis Yugi stopped. Here he could feel it. Here was the core of the death, the reason this place didn't have any life left.

_A golden wolf that tried to protest and was killed, ripped apart and eaten. __His love they began to eat before he died._

Yugi fell to his knees as tears fell onto the ground. This place was cursed. His peaceful people had become beasts under Guto's rule. His last wish had been their salvation.

Bakura sucked in his breath when suddenly a wave of pure, untamed power emerged from the centre of Yugi's being. Only when the second wave came did he realize what was happening.

Yugi was recreating this place.

The sand was blown away and exposed the soil underneath. The rocks lost their age and nagged shapes into what they had once been. Old statues broke and became new replicas. Water filled the hole rapidly and trees and grass started to grow all around. Bakura gasped at each new sight the waves brought. This was power, he realized. Whatever the pharaoh could do, what ever the Millennium priests could muster, it would never be as pure, untamed or as raw as this.

Suddenly Malik and Jono was with him, pressing their trembling bodies as close to his as possible. If they were seeking protection or security he didn't know but he was glad they were there so he had something to hold onto. The sheer power was too overwhelming to stand alone.

At long last everything stilled. The water of the oasis, shadowed by the surrounding trees, was glowing blue, sacred, holy. This was a place for Gods.

They didn't have to worry about Yugi. They could still feel his energy, they could still see his golden glowing form in the water as it rose to the surface.

Bakura, Jono and Malik all together bowed until their faces hit the ground. They weren't allowed to look at the being that was born in front of them.

* * *

In the capital the pharaoh raised his head.

"Seth, can you feel that?"

"I can feel it, Pharaoh."

Pharaoh Atemu slowly stood, still looking in the direction where the waves of magic came from. Ignoring everything else he went through the entire palace towards the roof. From there he couldn't see with his eyes, but the eye of the Millennium Puzzle clearly saw the waves of pure magic in the distance.

* * *

*1 Ihi: The god of music, usually in the shape of a bird but sometimes appeared as a young boy

*2 Apopis: The snake that threatened Ra's ship during his nightly travel

*3 Meret-Seger: Cobra goddess that protect the pharaohs' graves

*4 Nephthys: Seth's wife and protector of the dead


	9. Treasure of the World

Hey verybody. I'm so sorry you had to wait for this chapter for so long, and it's not even the promised last chapter. I'm ashamed of myself. However, with such a punch-line i just couldn't continue writing!

Even though I know most of you hate me now, please review. I promise I will work hard with the last chapter in between everything else I have to write.

Please enjoy.

* * *

**9th chapter: Treasure of the World**

Bakura sat in the sand, staring in awe. Jono lay in his lap, curled up as much as he could to fit and the thief was unconsciously holding him tightly. Malik had changed into his third form and his body was tense, prepared to move. In front of them a dead oasis had come to life.

The air that had felt like breathing sand was now humid. What had before been withered stone had grown over with lush moss. The salty sand, once poisoned by the corpse of a sacrifice, had become soil. There was water in the pound. There grew trees around them. Real trees with leaves and eatable fruit. Bakura knew that only because he had seen those fruits in the stalls of street markets before.

And Yugi. The Treasure of the World. He had returned to his original form; a small cat with black fur, white socks, golden streaks in the face and a reddish spot at the end of his tail. He sat on a stone that had once been Bastet's head and enjoyed the sunshine. Even as a cat it looked like he was smiling. The most impressing was that such small a creature held as much power as the Gods.

With a shiver Bakura remembered the pharaoh. Even if Yugi had the power of a God, he would never use it against a human. That was why the pharaoh was so dangerous to the little one.

"Yugi…"

The cat on the stone opened a pair of eyes that glistened. Amethyst eyes. They looked just like gems. Some part of Bakura's brain wondered how much those eyes were worth before he kicked the thought out of his consciousness. Marik would feed him to Ammut if he started counting Yugi's worth in gold. Not that it was possible though.

"This is still a sacred place."

Bakura lifted his head to see Yugi in his third form. He had to blink at least twice before the image he was used to see disappeared under Yugi's real appearance. Before Yugi had had a lean, flexible body. Now it was lithe with fine bone structure covered with white skin that reflected the sunlight. His usually spiky hair was now drawn back, falling over his back, and looked like fur with only his blond bangs to defy the direction and fall over his face instead. The pointy ears were furry too, like Malik's, but they were black and almost hidden in the hair. In this form the tail was white with a black tip and it swayed calmly around him. Malik had black claws; Yugi's were white, but just as sharp and with the same ability to cause lasing injuries. All of him looked like something only touchable by a God.

_Why would the Gods give such beauty to something they wanted to hide?_

Yugi smiled and got down from the stone, he moved with the same ease as a cat, and kneeled in front of his guardian. Jono jumped right out of Bakura's arms like a grasshopper.

"Because the Gods are vain."

If it had been possible Bakura's face would have turned as white as Yugi's. This was the Treasure of the World, he could read his thoughts and he had just insulted each and every God existing.

"The Gods like beauty and see ugliness as an enemy. I am their creation." Yugi cast with his head to move the bangs out of his eyes, a glint sparkled in them and he became the boy who had grown up as a thief. "It's a real damn drag."

The boy smiled and slowly, as the shock faded, Bakura started to laugh. Sure, this was the Treasure of the World, but the brat was still the same he had taught to swear. Yugi laughed too, and then Jono and Malik joined them.

Bakura reached out a hand and patted the black head. The hair wasn't as rough as before but he ignored it and ruffled it like he had done with Yugi as a child.

"It's nice to know you're still you."

Yugi shook his head and combed his hair with a clawed hand to get it back in order, but he smiled in that embarrassed way he used to. "Same to you."

* * *

"Pharaoh! This is not a wise decision," Isis yelled at the newly coroneted pharaoh. It was rare for the priestess to lose her temper. Actually, there were no records that it had ever happened before.

"You felt it too. I recognize it and no matter how much you protest I will go out there and find the source of that power."

"Pharaoh! This is not like you. Already have you become like the former morning and evening star. You have always trusted my word, why are you suddenly turning your back on my advice."

"I trust your ability." The new pharaoh's eyes were serious when they landed on the priestess of Isis. "But telling me it is mad to investigate that source of power when I believe I know what it is makes be doubt."

The priestess stiffened. She had never been doubted before and didn't know how to answer. The prince had always been so gentle and always listened. Shouldn't he keep listening to her even now? It upset her more that he wouldn't listen than it would have done if a slave asked her to marry him.

"Pharaoh."

Atemu stopped and looked at his cousin. The priest of Toth had a serious look in his eyes, but his face was pale.

"Will you advice me to not leave as well, Seto?"

The tall man took a step forward. "No. But listen to me, pharaoh. Something is not right. I too recognized the energy." He held up the Millennium Rod. "It's the magician accompanying Bakura."

Isis eyes widened. Once the pharaoh had made the decision to go out and investigate the magical energy she had had a vision predicting a worldwide disaster. But now she was confused. She felt she had to stop the pharaoh from going out, but if Bakura planned something disastrous he had to go out and stop him.

"If I may, pharaoh, I would like to accompany you."

Atemu smiled at his cousin. "Prepare and see me in the stables."

Seth bowed and turned.

Isis stared after him. Something was not right with Toth's head priest. Since the night of the old pharaoh's death he had been very quiet.

* * *

Jono had caught a stray onyx-antelope, which meant food for all of them. They were now resting in the place Bakura had used to stay in when he visited the village and were cooking his share of meat over a small fire. He couldn't help but feel painfully nostalgic to be here.

Not all the villagers had liked him being there, but since first Seiza, Jono's father and former head of the village, and then Guto had accepted his presence there was nothing they could do but ignore him. He hadn't been allowed to enter the village though; the snakes would have eaten him alive if he had dared. Teana had volunteered and tried to attack, but Guto had saved him. It had probably been the first and last time the falcon had saved a life.

Small body suddenly landed on his leg and he looked down to see Malik in his first form, the small cat. He patted the pale little head and looked at his food that looked like it was almost done.

"Do you remember, little one?" he asked his friend and felt the head look up at him from under his hand. "Do you remember why I was allowed to be here?"

Looking down into Malik's purple eyes he saw the answer.

"_Because you saved Yugi."_

The scarred thief smiled a little. He had heard of people who could say everything they wanted with only one look. Yugi's people spoke with their eyes when they weren't in their third form.

"_Are you sad?"_

"No, just nostalgic but…" He looked out over the dessert and the darkening east sky. "It's still painful to be here."

"This place has too few happy memories shared with you." They both looked up at Yugi as he appeared. The treasure smiled. "Is that not right, Baccura?"

With a sigh the elder took the food off the fire. "You're right. The only people who welcomed me here was you and Malik."

On the other side of the fire Jono looked up. _"Me too."_

"Not as often, and you never approached me."

Snorting Jono turned his head away, making the other three smile. Yugi went over to him, changed into his second form; a panther about the same size as the wolf, and lay down beside his friend.

Having forgotten to turn his head Bakura had to wait for the world to stop spinning before he could start eating. Malik left his lap and jumped the two bigger animals.

"Don't roll into the fire," Bakura warned.

If the three of them heard him or not was uncertain, but their play didn't bring them into the flames of the bonfire. Bakura didn't want to join the game. He had no claws and teeth and the game looked violent from a human's perspective. He settled to watch them.

When Ra had left the world to fight Apophis Bakura awoke by something landing heavily on his lap. Jono panted with his tongue as far out of his mouth as it could reach and the cats looked like they were laughing.

"I take it you've finished playing but get off me Jono. You don't know how heavy you are."

Instead of moving Jono started licking the corners of Bakura's mouth with whining sounds. The thief tried to not laugh, not really succeeding.

"Fine. I get it. I love you too, Jono. Now please get off me."

Satisfied the wolf placed himself beside his human friend and sighed in content. Malik wasn't late settling in the fur of Jono's neck. They were asleep before Bakura could tell them good night.

"I will go back to the pond," Yugi's voice said softly in his ear. Bakura turned and met his eyes. "I am the treasure of the world, and my purpose is to purify it. The dessert is still powerful and will try to kill the oasis again."

Bakura nodded. "I'll stay here and come see you in the morning." Laying down the king of thieves thought his apprentice would leave. As sure as Ra's course over the sky he wasn't prepared to be kissed.

Yugi's lips touched the scar he had been caused when caught by the pharaoh's soldiers when he was twelve.

The amethyst eyes smiled down at him. "Sleep tight."

Yugi was long gone when Bakura finally realized what had happened.

* * *

Somewhere between the capital of Egypt and the lost village the new pharaoh decided to stop for the night. In difference to his father, Atemu preferred to keep it simple. With him were only a handful soldiers, his cousin and Mahado, and three servants to take care of the food.

"The source of power must be farther away than I believed," the pharaoh stated.

"We have travelled for a whole day, yet I believe we haven't gotten much closer to our goal," Mahado agreed. "Even in the palace the energy felt close. It must have been a much greater power than we originally believed."

Seto kept quiet. Ever since he had seen those amethyst eyes the night of the old pharaoh's death he had been tormented by images, like memories. It didn't make sense. Those memories weren't of his life, yet they were his own. The amethyst eyes he had seen in Muta's mind were the same as the ones in the garden that night. The same as in his dreams, and the same as in his memories.

"Seto?"

He turned to his younger cousin. The teenager was looking at him with concern.

"What's wrong, Seto? You haven't said a word since we left the palace."

"I'm sorry pharaoh. I'm just... thinking."

"About what?" Mahado asked.

"That's the thing. I don't know what. Those amethyst eyes... they are confusing me."

Atemu ordered the soldiers to leave them alone as they got off their horses and let the servants take care of them.

"Tell us," Atemu requested softly.

Seto opened his mouth, but no sounds came over his lips. Behind Atemu and Mahado he saw a young boy. His cloths were torn but his body was beautiful. He had the amethyst eyes. Sorrowed amethyst eyes.

"Seto?"

He blinked and shook his head. The boy was gone.

"I'm sorry, pharaoh. There is something I have to do, and I must do it alone."

He turned his back to the worried faces and back to the camp. A tent had been set up for the pharaoh and his priests and he went in to prepare himself. Some part of his mind was telling him he was crazy, but a much bigger part wanted answers. He wanted to know why the owner of those eyes was haunting him, what the memories meant, the nightmares and Marik. That boy had all the answers.

He took off everything that gave away his wealth. He didn't know why it was so important to clean himself of status, but he knew he had to.

Stripped of everything but a simple linen cloth he swept a cloak around his shoulders, picked up the Millennium rod and left the tent. Outside he became the object of attention, Mahado and the pharaoh's mostly. He forced himself to ignore them and left the camp.

* * *

Yugi floated at the bottom of the pond. This was where the curse was strongest, so this was where he had to be. There were a lot of things he wished could be undone just by being near the core. His father's death. The new pharaoh's greed. The past. But his purpose wasn't to save the people of this earth. He wasn't meant to be used or seen by humans. The Gods didn't want him to be worshipped.

Part of Yugi, a large part of him, hated the Gods. As the Treasure of the World he was alone. Now that he had awakened to his purpose he didn't need anyone. That's how Amun-Ra thought. Yugi was no human, no animal and no God. He was only a tool. This world was poisoned. It would die far before the humans did, and without humans the Gods would have no more worshippers or sacrifices. Therefore they had created him, to keep the world cleaned.

The Gods thought that now that he was aware again, Bakura wasn't needed.

Malik and Jono thought Yugi would bring their people back to life. Bakura thought that even if Yugi had awakened they could stay together. It made him hate the Gods even more. They were the ones he lived for, and the Gods would rip him away from them soon.

Yugi opened his eyes. Something was coming. Far out in the desert was two people he remembered, but only one of them remembered him.

So they had come. What would the Gods do about this? Amun-Ra couldn't reach for his powers a second time. He wasn't allowed to break the rules again. They were called almighty, but that was only because their powers were much greater than the ones of a human. In reality they were as bound by limits as the ones that worshipped them.

Yugi followed the man with blue eyes, the one that remembered him. People were silently moving around in a small camp. There was the pharaoh, newly coroneted, along with another priest. Both of them wore Millennium items. Part of him wondered if they knew what they were.

The blue-eyed man exited the tent. To his pleasure Yugi saw he had taken off everything that connected him to the pharaoh, except for the Millennium item. He sighed. Even though he understood it was slightly irritating to realize the weakness of the human mind.

The pharaoh wanted to follow, but was held back by the other priest. Good. This wasn't something that could be shared with them.

They were far from the camp, enclosed by cold darkness, before the man stopped. He sat on his knees and set the rod in the hard earth, the eye pointing towards himself, before he sat back and closed his eyes. The mind reached out for him through it.

"You don't need the golden blood to talk to me."

Startled the man opened his eyes and looked up. Yugi has place himself on the other side of the rod.

Seeing there would be no response Yugi pointed at the rod with his foot. "This thing. You don't need it to talk to me."

The man looked down on it before looking up into his eyes again. It was strange how clearly he could see those blue eyes in the darkness.

"It was the only way I could think of to contact you. I thought we were connected through the Millennium rod."

"I understand that. You're a human, so of course you think as one. I don't blame you. But could you remove it, please? Its presence is rather annoying."

The priest looked at the rod. In his blue eyes was a hesitation, a reluctance to be without this power.

"What did you call it?" he asked.

Yugi smiled a little. "I only just wondered if any of you knew what these things were made of."

The blue eyes looked up again. "It's the purest gold."

"The purest, yes. But it isn't gold. All the Millennium items are made of golden blood, frozen into these shapes."

Once again the blue eyes fell onto the golden item. Slowly, still in his heart reluctant, he picked it up. Then he threw it away. Not with all his might, but he threw it none the less.

"There. Will you talk to me now?"

Yugi smiled and sat down on his knees. "Just ask. I can't promise I can answer everything, but I will try. But please ask one question at a time."

"Fine." He hesitated, trying to pick out one of the hundred questions he had. "Your name."

"Right. My name is Yugi. What's yours? I don't really remember that."

"You don't remember?"

"No. So what is your name?"

The man was silent for a while. "I'm Seto, the new pharaoh's cousin and head priest of Toth, the God of penmanship."

"The Gods I'm sad to say I know."

Seto stared at him with the same wide eyes as Bakura earlier, when he had said the Gods are vain.

"You're..." the priest swallowed that. "Who are you? I mean, I have seen your eyes in my dreams for some time now, since we connected through Muta's mind. Even in my memories I see your eyes, but I am sure we have never met before."

Yugi sat quiet for a long time. The memories brought along a pain that slowly cut through him like a dull knife.

"In this life I was born as Marik's son. But I am many things. At the same time I am nothing."

Seto's tanned face frowned in confusion. "I don't understand."

"I see that in your face," Yugi smiled. "I am the Treasure of the World. I can take the shape of both human and animal, yet I am neither. Nor am I a God. I am the one to save this world, but I am not to worship. I am the most treasured of the Gods, and still I am only a tool."

By the time Yugi stopped talking Seto's face had changed from confused to lost.

"To put it simply I guess you could say I am a son so treasured by his parents they refuse to show me to the world."

That image seemed to be understandable.

"Why do I see you in memories that are and aren't mine?"

At that Yugi had to smile, though his heart ached. "Those are the memories of the time the Gods banished."

Seto's face paled. It was so easy to follow his train of thought. It wasn't even necessary to enter his mind.

"Don't worry. There is no penalty for remembering. I am probably the one to blame anyway."

"What happened? In my memories I see your eyes in the face of a cat and a woman."

"Yes," Yugi said and lowered his gaze. "It will take too long to tell the whole story. I don't even know where to begin.

"The beginning is always a good way to start."

"Well, that's the thing. There are many beginnings. You see, this world have once been forced backwards."

Seto frowned. "You mean the time? Has the time been turned back once?"

"That is not really the case even if you could say it _is_ like that."

Seto's face instantly signalled he was lost again. Yugi giggled at the expression.

"This is awkward. You are a high priest for crying out loud. I'm actually much younger than you. Why am I not making sense?"

Taken aback by his sudden change of language Seto sat up straight, then hooked on. "Because you aren't. You say that the Gods have turned back the time right after you say they haven't!"

"But that's the way it is. It wasn't really the time they turned backwards. It was the entire world. You don't know how big it is and to move everything backwards and change the position of every living being, from humans to grass without changing what has already happened takes a lot of power, even when all the Gods move together."

A light sparkled in Seto's eyes. "The Gods moved the world, but not the time."

"They had to mess with time too. Though not the time of the earth, but the time of humans."

Now the high priest started to understand. About time.

"How old are you now?"

"Fifteen, this life."

Seto opened his mouth but swallowed the question. Yugi watched how his face changed again. The blue eyes sharpened.

"So why do I see your eyes in the face of a cat and a woman? You are a boy, right?"

"I'm a male, yes. But as I said I am both human and animal and neither. Don't interrupt me," Yugi stopped the question that had almost rolled over the priest's tongue. "I suppose you can say I was born as a cat that can turn into a human. But treasured by the Gods I don't belong to that kind. Back then, in the lost piece of world, there was a whole village of this kind, my kind of people."

"And that is where you are now."

Yugi snorted. "That you figured out quickly."

"It's logical to return to the place whence one came."

"I wasn't born there in this life."

"But it's a life you remember."

Yugi sighed. This man hadn't changed much. "Well, as to why you remember me. You saved my life once. The palace stores medicine and my people needed it. So once in a while two of us went and stole some. I was the head of my village... or should have been."

Seto leaned in. "What happened"

"My father disappeared before I was born and my mother was killed when Seiza, the former leader, died. I was too young to take over the leadership, but the place was stolen. An eagle owl, Guto, used me to persuade the people he was the new leader."

"Hold on. What are you saying now? Isn't the leadership passed down to the leader's son?"

"No. By the end of the old leader's life one of the females will give birth to a cup to which the leader's powers are passed. To tell the truth I don't know much about it. I never reached the age to be told these things."

"So this... whatever he was, uh, threatened you to... pretend your powers were his?"

"If that's an image that works for you then use it. Anyway. Since I was the real leader Guto couldn't risk my life or let me get away from him. Only one, a snake-woman, knew about the plot; the one who killed my mother."

"_Don't worry, Yugi. As long as you just do as I say I will keep Teana away from Malik."_

Yugi swallowed, disgusted by how naive he had been, blinded by fear. He hadn't even hated Guto, only feared for the sake of his friends.

"I had a dear friend. He managed to persuade Guto to let me go with him to the pharaoh's palace." He swallowed again. "I was stupid. I believed I was safe and free when Guto and Teana weren't spying on me from the shadows. I got hurt. And you saved me."

Seto sat still, listening, remembering. The two felines, Yugi and his friend, Malik, had stayed in his room. Malik had tried to protect the smaller one. The old pharaoh had died very suddenly. Yugi, when his wounds had almost healed had been caught by the new pharaoh and tried to protect himself with an illusion. An illusion that made everyone believe he was a human female. Seto had taken care of her as Atemu had declared she would be his wife, and then helped Yugi and Malik escape.

Yugi got up. "You should go back and rest now. I will wait for you in the village."

"Wait!" The high priest reached out to grab his wrist, but his hand only grabbed air. Yugi smiled.

"As you said, I am in that village."

"Please wait. Something terrible happened after you fled, right? What will happen if the pharaoh catches you again?"

Yugi tried to smile, but knew he failed. His vision was blurred by tears. "I can't see the future."

When Yugi opened his eyes he was still floating at the bottom of the pond. He was still crying.

_I can not see the future_, he thought and closed his eyes. _But the Gods are deceiving everyone._


	10. Count down

Yes, I know I said this would be the last chapter, but in the end, the story didn't agree with that. However, the next chapter has no choice but to be the last one. Bare with me just a little longer, please.

* * *

**10th chapter: Count down**

Bakura awoke with a start at the break of dawn. "Yugi?"

The whisper of his voice was carried away by the dry desert wind. Jono was snoring softly somewhere in the complete darkness that forewent the arrival of Ra, and Bakura supposed Malik was with him. The air was filled with the smell of grass that had started growing overnight.

Bakura let out a sigh of relief. Just another nightmare, and this one he couldn't even remember.

"Did you call for me, Baccura?"

In the east Ra was starting to rise, colouring the Nut's feet with the blood of his enemy. Bakura could see the outlines of his little friend in the arriving light.

"Not really," he answered. "I just awoke with a strange feeling."

The teasing smile was audible in the little one's voice. "Is the great Bakura, the king of thieves, having nightmares?"

"Be quiet. You're dreaming a lot more than I do."

He saw Yugi move, and that was all the evidence that he sat down.

"True. So what is the great Bakura dreaming in the dark of night?"

"That's none of your business," the man said sulkily.

"I've told you all of my nightmares."

"That's different. As your guardian I am supposed to know of everything that scares you so that I can be there as understanding comfort."

Ra had raised enough for Bakura to see the young boy's face. He was pouting.

"Don't give me that face," Bakura warned, knowing very well where those words would lead; Yugi opened his irresistible eyes wide, attacking with sheer cuteness.

"Damn you."

Yugi grinned widely.

"I don't remember what the dream was about."

"Hey! No fair. You should have said that from the beginning!"

"My victory," Bakura snickered. "You can't beat me in my own games."

"Are you fighting?" a soft voice asked from Jono's resting body.

"No. Bakura is just being a jerk."

"And enjoying it. Have you slept well, Malik?"

The other feline entered Ra's light. He was completely red, like he was covered in red oils. "I slept well, Bakura-friend. Jono is sleeping well still."

They all looked over to the wolf. Jono was unnaturally enough a real sleepyhead, especially in the morning.

"A healthy eater, and a good sleeper," Yugi mumbled fondly. "Let's have a morning meal. That will wake him up."

* * *

The pharaoh's camp was breaking up. Seto was half asleep as he made his horse ready. Mahado watched in deep concern. Last night the high priest of Toth had returned to the camp, settled in his tent and stared into nothingness for the remains of the night, not saying a word.

Could it possibly be a curse, or was his old friend being controlled? Neither guess sounded good to his ears.

"Still no change?" Atemu asked with a low voice.

"Only the fact he seems sleepy," Mahado mumbled back.

"Is that a good sign?"

"I can't tell, but I hope so. I would be even more worried if he was fit and ready to go after not sleeping at all."

That the young pharaoh had to agree with. Seto was always calm and collected, thoughtful and good with words. He may never have been very talkative, but he had never retreated into complete silence before.

When everything was ready they continued, Seto nodding in his saddle. Mahado rode in beside his friend and grabbed his arm, making the high priest jerk his head up.

"You will fall off the horse, my friend," Mahado said calmly.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Mahado. I will try to stay awake."

The high priest of Shu released his hold on Seto's arm. "Why were you up all night anyway? You know the situation, Seto."

The high priest of Toth sighed deeply. "There is something in my memory, just out of my reach, that I need to grasp."

"Is it about this mission?" Mahado asked.

Seto's blue eyes looked to the belly of Nut that Ra would pass during midday. "I'm not sure. It could be."

Atemu had quietly been watching them from the front. At least his cousin seemed to be speaking again.

Locking his eyes to the location they were heading to, the young pharaoh thought about the night Bakura had been in his room.

"_There you are, prince of doom and death."_

It had been the first time in his life anybody had dared to say something like that to his face. Always, wherever he went, people had always called him by names of a great ruler. That Bakura hadn't even hesitated to say such words. And his follow up words weren't more understandable.

"_Nice to hear that you remember me."_

Remember him? Atemu knew for a fact that it had been the first time they met face to face. No lowlife had ever dared to come face to face with a royalty, the pharaoh even less. But that Bakura had seemed to know him well, and the hatred that had glowed in his eyes had been genuinely aimed at him as person, not prince. That the thief had called him pharaoh was also strange.

Atemu couldn't remember what the crazy man with white hair had been talking about. Something about the Gods turning the world backwards and reaching for their forbidden powers. If he hadn't been the object of the thief's devious mischief for five years he would have dismissed Bakura as completely mad.

And then the wind in his back, followed by blood coloured petals. That soft voice.

"_We must leave, Baccura."_

Atemu had only been able to see a small body with pale skin, a slender back and black hair outlined with red. But the voice. That voice that had filled the room like a wave. It had been so soft, and yet filled with such untamed power that it had left him petrified. And then both the owner of the voice and Bakura was gone, and the wind had turned to leave, softly washing over him like water. He had followed the flower petals with his eyes until they had disappeared in the darkness of night. Not even Tefnut had been able to lighten the darkness enough for him to see where the petals headed.

Were they heading towards the place where that soft voice was now?

* * *

In the capital of Egypt, Isis fought to control the visions blurring for her inner eye. She was confused. The images didn't fit together and she didn't know if they belonged to the past, the present or the future. Everything was in chaos. One image showed a child crying in the mother's arms, in the next a man turned to stone, a cat turned into a young girl, Marik's castle crumbled, Seto played with two kittens, Tefnut was weeping, an oasis of green trees, soft grass and flowers, the sky was burning, the new pharaoh kissed a young girl, a boy with light hair cried and screamed, Marik looked up under the axe that soon would cut off his head, a pond of water coloured red from the blood of the body hung over it, a woman turned into a snake and opened her mouth to bite, broken statues of the Gods, a sandstorm raising, Marik sneaked out from under a bush with a sleeping child in his arms, Nut covered herself with clouds and hid all light from view, a child with white hair hiding under some rocks watched his family be slaughtered, a desert hound charged, young confused-looking Atemu watched a disturbed Solomon, Geb shook with anger, A sea of humans with animal parts roared with madness and fear in their eyes, the child with the white hair and another child watched Marik's castle crumble from afar, a pair of amethyst eyes opened and stared straight at her.

The millennium necklace broke.

Isis's mind was slapped back into her own head and she fainted.

* * *

Yugi sighed deeply.

"The millennium necklace is broken," he stated softly so to not alarm his guardian.

"What?"

Bakura, Malik and Jono all stared at him.

"How could it break?" Jono asked. "Those things are made of frozen blood and magic. They shouldn't be able to break."

Yugi didn't say anything for a while. The eye of the necklace had landed on him, and in that moment it had felt like something small had passed through his head from behind and into the centre of the eye. The power of the Gods. It made Yugi feel dizzy and sick.

"The priestess of Isis tried to use the necklace to see me. The Gods couldn't allow that."

Bakura was silent as he observed his young friend. Yugi wasn't a child anymore. Not with his memories returned to him. Before they arrived here Yugi had carried around a bitterness sleeping within him, now there was only sorrow to him. Bakura knew too well the look his friend wore now; helplessness.

The Yugi Bakura had taken care of for so long now, Marik's son, had never been helpless before. He was always cocky, trying to be tough and eager to prove that he was a good thief. This Yugi was the one that had died in that time, only less energetic and innocent. Something was off, and Bakura was sure it had something to do with the Gods, and that Yugi couldn't talk to him about.

"What are you thinking of, Yugi?" the older man asked anyway.

Yugi's shoulders flinched slightly. Malik and Jono noticed it too.

"I don't really know," the boy answered, and it was a straight lie. "It just feels like something big is about to happen. Something bad."

Bakura placed a hand on Jono's back as the wolf was about to tell Yugi on his lie.

"Then we'll leave," the thief said and stood.

"Not yet," Yugi said sharply, surprising his guardian and friends. "I'm not finished here yet. Wait until Ra falls."

The look in Yugi's eyes as he looked up Bakura had never seen. He had to swallow, and still couldn't speak. All he could do was sit back down and continue to mend his cloak. Yugi stood and headed towards the pond.

"What happened?" Jono asked in a shocked whisper.

"Yugi is the Treasure of the World," Malik answered with low voice. "He was made by Gods, and no one can ignore an order from the Gods when it's shoved into the face like that."

* * *

The closer they came to their destination, the harder Seto's heart beat. For some unknown reason, at least not one he could explain to himself, he was scared.

During the day the memories that were and weren't his own had cleared somewhat. He could remember Malik clearly, though Yugi was still blurry. But there were two Malik; one cat and one human. The cat was bronze coloured with purple eyes, the human had pale, milk coloured hair and the same purple eyes. They were the same, those two, Seto knew that, but there was still a large part of his brain that denied it.

Then it was the girl Atemu had fallen in love with. That girl was Yugi covered by an illusion to protect himself. But there were two Yugi too. One cat and one human.

Atemu had told the human girl Yugi to marry him and started the preparations. Seto, on the other hand, had helped cat Yugi and Malik escape the palace. Then everything had changed.

The pharaoh had died, haltering the wedding preparations as everyone had concentrated on the funeral and coronation of the new pharaoh. The weather had changed and Nut had been covered with clouds that hid both Ra and Tefnut and all the stars from sight. Storms had roared over the land, killing thousands of people. Atemu, as the new pharaoh, realized his bride was gone and then…

What happened then?

Seto couldn't bring forth any memories past the fact that Atemu had realized Yugi was gone. The new pharaoh had done something terrible. It was only a feeling, a bad feeling in the bottom of his gut, but Seto couldn't deny it. Atemu had done something.

"Seto?"

The high priest jumped in the saddle. "What?"

Beside him Mahado blinked in surprise, then frowned in concern as Seto saw him.

"Are you all right, my friend? You look very pale."

Seto opened his mouth, intending to lie and say he was fine, but found that he couldn't. He couldn't deny that his heart was racing and that his hands were trembling badly. Defeated, he lowered his head with a sound somewhere between a grunt and a whimper.

"No. I'm not all right. Something really bad is about to happen."

Mahado reached out a hand and squeezed his friend's shoulder.

"Should I ask the pharaoh to take a break?"

The wind hit Seto in the back, bringing the whisper of a voice, but he couldn't make out the words. The sand danced around and moved in front of them, creating a path. Seto's eyes widened upon seeing it.

"No. We must continue."

Mahado had seen the wind and sand as well, and he nodded. He was confused, but knew they couldn't stop now. The Gods were with them, watching over them. He had to believe that.

"If you feel something is about to go wrong, then I will trust your feeling. Tell me what to do."

That was a great display of trust. Mahado was wise and many men way past his years turned to the young high priest for advice. Seto felt honoured, but also burdened.

"Stay close to Atemu, and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

The high priest of Shu was quiet for a moment, his face stiff. Seto knew that telling the pharaoh off was nothing just anyone would do and survive. But Mahado was special.

"I will," he said at last. "And what will be your task?"

"I will keep a lookout for the threat. While I believe our pharaoh will lead us into disaster, something else might be deceiving him. I would rather believe in the latter if I could."

Mahado sighed quietly.

"I believe in you, Seto. So now, at least ride with the pharaoh and me in the front, please."

Seto looked up. Mahado looked slightly weary, so he nodded with a small smile.

"Just don't tell his holiness about this."

* * *

In the oasis somewhere south southwest of Alexandria there were four beings, and all of them waited.

Bakura, the king of thieves since the young age of sixteen, a man with broad shoulders and torso, white hair and dark skin, even for an Egyptian native, crisscrossed with scars, the most outstanding one falling over his right eye and cheek to his chin, crossed twice vertically, waited to leave. He wasn't used to be the one following orders. Since the age of fourteen when he took over the care and charge of Yugi from Marik, he had been the one giving orders and knowing best, always being the rough teacher, loving brother and unquestioned leader. To suddenly be ordered around by the one whose back he had always watched, he had mixed feelings about. After mending his cloths as far as he possibly could, he had found some high grass and tried to make a hat by plaiting the straws.

Jono, the desert hound and one of two revived from an extinct kind of people, one with three shapes whereof only two were commonly known; the first of the golden wolf and the third of the human, a human with golden blond hair, honey brown eyes and the wolf's long ears peaking up from the sides of his head instead of human ones, just like he had black claws instead of nails and a fluffy tail wagging about behind him, waited for nightfall. He wasn't about to doubt Yugi's leadership. If the Treasure of the World said wait he would wait, because Yugi most certainly knew what was going on. But waiting was boring. He tried to sniff out something interesting in the oasis and had already went around the pond and was on his way towards the old village in search for an interesting smell.

Malik, the cat and second of the revived, one with all his three forms known to the world; the first of the cat bronze coloured coat a pale head and purple eyes, the second of the panther in the same colours as the first form, the third of the human with milk coloured hair, purple eyes and just like Jono his animal ears took the place of human ones, claws, much sharper than Jono's, instead of nails and the end of a long tail slowly whipping from side to side, waited for Yugi. He sat in his first form on Bakura's shoulder, looking longingly at the pond his friend was hiding within. During his first life he had loved Yugi, and that love still housed his heart. When the Treasure of the World regained his memories Malik had thought that they could love each other again, but Yugi knew better. They hadn't spoken a word about it, however, when Malik through his eyes had tried to tell Yugi that he still loved him, the other had turned away. Because he was the Treasure of the World, treasured by the Gods, he was off limits, even if Malik's feelings of love were returned.

Yugi, the Treasure of the Word, born twice to have his parents murdered, waited for the pharaoh. Floating at the bottom of the pond, so that he didn't have to face his friends, Yugi thought hard. In his chest his feelings stood against each other until it felt like his heart would burst.

Deceived by the Gods was the strongest feeling, and therefore the Treasure of the World didn't want to be, but against that stood Malik, Jono and Bakura. They loved him, and Yugi knew it and loved them back, more than anything. His wish would hurt them all deeply.

Second was hatred towards the pharaoh, the son of the man who killed his father, imprisoned him in the lost world and caused the chaos that had forced the Gods to turn the world backwards, and against that stood fear of the same pharaoh he hated. The illusion of a human girl he had used to protect himself, the pharaoh had fallen in love with the beauty and tried to keep it to himself which had led to the extinction of an entire people. What would happen if the pharaoh laid his eyes on him again? What would happen to the world?

Third was fear for himself, even when he lead the pharaoh and his brutes to him he was scared, and knowing the three now waiting around in the oasis would protect him to death didn't make matters any better. Still, against that fear, stood the soul-deep hatred towards the Gods, and the sorrow it caused him.

And underneath everything flowed his devotion to Seto.

Being caught in the pharaoh's palace, Seto had been the one person who helped. As the pharaoh's cousin Seto should have absolute devotion to his ruler, but at the same time, Seto knew where love ended and obsession started. The pharaoh had been obsessed with the human girl he thought Yugi to be, and Seto had listened to Yugi. Working against the pharaoh meant death, whoever it was. Seto had still done so, and Yugi knew. Seto had been killed for it. Crushed under the power of shadows from the millennium item of the pharaoh. Yugi had felt it, only minutes before he died himself.

Would Seto die this time too? Would Bakura?

It didn't matter what happened. Somebody would die tonight. And everything because of the Gods' betrayal. They were supposed to protect the humans and all living. Instead they killed. Like any human ruler anywhere executing other humans for causing them discomfort. Legal killers.

Yugi opened his eyes and stared at the sky though the water. Ra had passed over him long ago. Night would be over them in a few hours. The pharaoh would arrive to the oasis soon before Ra fell beyond the horizon. If they waited until then… If they escaped before it…

Yugi swallowed, love, fear and hatred fighting for domination in his chest. He had to come to a decision soon.

* * *

The pharaoh had increased the speed, leaving the servants slightly behind. Mahado had a tight hold of the reins of Seto's horse, as Seto himself all but lay in the saddle. He was seriously not well, but he still refused to stop.

"I have to see this through," he said whenever Mahado or Atemu tried to coax him into resting. At last the latter decided enough was enough.

"We'll take a rest now," the pharaoh ordered and made a motion with his hand.

"No, we can't!" Seto protested and looked up. His face was very pale and his breath heavy. "If we stop now, they will disappear."

"Don't be silly, Seto," Mahado said as gently as he could, yet his worry coloured his words. "People don't disappear. If they move they will either go by foot or use magic. If they go by foot we can easily catch up. If they use magic we can follow the trace."

"You don't understand!"

Mahado and Atemu both widened their eyes and stared at Seto breathing painfully heavy while resting his head against the neck of his horse. The cousin of the pharaoh had raised his voice. Seto never raised his voice.

A soldier rode up to them on his camel.

"Pharaoh. What should we do, oh pharaoh?"

"Give me water," Atemu ordered and held out his hand without taking his eyes off the high priest of Toth.

The soldier obeyed without question and handed the goatskin hanging to his saddle to his ruler. Atemu opened it and slowly poured water over his cousin's head. Seto sighed and his frown eased. Atemu smiled at Mahado, who smiled back, albeit without the same relief in his face.

Atemu gave the goatskin back to the soldier and Seto raised his head.

"Thank you, my pharaoh. But please, we must continue."

Atemu hesitated, but then nodded and turned towards his waiting solders. The servants were slowly catching up.

"We'll increase speed again. Five of you stay with the servants. The rest will come with me."

And with another motion with his hand they were once again on the move.


	11. Defeated

Here it is, just as I promised. I know the progress to come here has been long, but when everything's over, it kind of feels like it wasn't.

Also, I'm feeling a bit torn between relief and and sadness. The way I always feel after a finishing a story. I will apoligize now for the... sudden end. Maybe it will change somewhere in the future, but this is where it ended right now.

To all of you from all of me, thank you for reading this story!

* * *

**Last chapter: Defeated**

"Ready a horse!"

Those were the words that echoed almost throughout the palace as Isis walked down the stairs towards the stables where the riding animals were kept.

"Isis! What is going on? Where are you going?"

"Karim! I have to follow him! I must stop the pharaoh before something really terrible happens."

Karim reached out and grabbed the arm of the hurrying priestess, forcing her to face him, and the first thing he noticed was a missing piece of gold.

"Isis?"

"It broke," she whispered and Karim's eyes widened. "It broke when I tried to see the future. My head is in a chaos, Karim. The pharaoh must be stopped. He should never lay his eyes upon those Amethysts."

The high priest of Maat held onto his friend's shoulders. In his eyes a battle of beliefs could be seen. Then he nodded his head.

"I believe in you, Isis. But if you are leaving to find the palace, then I will come with you."

Isis smiled, relief and gratefulness lighting her eyes.

"Let us leave then. If we don't hurry, we might be too late."

* * *

Ra was almost touching upon the end of the world when the pharaoh Atemu suddenly held in his horse. Behind him the soldiers hurried to do the same with their tired camels. Seto stared ahead. In front of them, only a few dunes away in the middle of the desert, was an oasis of green trees. Not a small one either. It was almost a small forest that spread out before them. Shu sighed deeply and the wind his breath created ruffled the leaves of the trees like the hair of a child. But around it, the sand dunes of the desert spread out as far as the eye could see.

Mahado turned his gaze to Seto.

"Is this the place we are looking for?"

Atemu kept gazing ahead. They were far out into the desert where few travellers passed. Still, an oasis of this scale should have been known to him and the people.

"We have arrived," Seto whispered.

"Good," Atemu stated and turned to his soldiers. "The thief king may be hiding here. Spread and surround the oasis. Invade it. Catch him alive if you can."

* * *

Bakura was suddenly jumped by a nervous wolf, one that shifted shape faster than the thief had time to see.

"We must leave," Jono said in a stressed whimper, fear radiating from his being. "The pharaoh has somehow managed to track us. They're just south of here and moving in."

Bakura felt a chill that made the hairs on his body stand. He rushed to his feet, heading for the pond where Yugi was still hiding. But as soon as he entered the small clearing, Yugi sprung from the water and threw himself into Bakura's arms.

"Yugi! The pharaoh…"

"I know," the boy said, whimpering. Bakura knew the tone. He had heard it before, but only when his young charge told him about his nightmares. Yugi was crying.

"What?"

"_I_ led them here. I used the connection between me and the high priest of Toth to lead them to this place."

Bakura widened his eyes, shocked to no end. Behind him Jono and Malik had also stiffened, staring at Bakura and Yugi with disbelief.

"Why?" Malik breathed. "Why? Yugi! You know what will happen if the pharaoh sees you!"

"I'm so sorry," Yugi cried. "But… but the Gods… I am the Treasure of the World and should belong to the Gods alone. I'm not supposed to be known by mortals, so the Gods planned on disposing you. All of you. I don't want that to happen so I… But I'm scared, Bakura. I don't dare to face the pharaoh. I don't dare to leave you. I don't dare to deceive you like the Gods me."

Jono threw his head around, looking in all directions like for an answer.

"We must escape," he growled. "They are trying to surround us."

"Over my dead body," Bakura growled and wrapped his carefully mended cloak around Yugi, covering the boy's body as completely as possible, only leaving his face visible so that he could breathe, and lifted him into his arms.

"Bakura?"

"There must be something we can do," the thief king growled in frustration. "I won't let the pharaoh have Yugi, and if the Gods wish to dispose of me, then let them. I will take the pharaoh with me. Jono, where is the net the weakest?"

"North. But they're moving into the oasis too."

Jono growled to the east and grew into his first form. Malik was still petrified.

"Malik!"

The cat flinched and looked at Bakura who waited for him. Malik didn't know what to do, but there was strong determination in Bakura's eyes, and that gave him enough strength. Yugi would explain everything later.

"Jono and I will confuse them."

* * *

Seto's head was pounding. As he looked at the greenery of the oasis flashes of memories covered his vision. Animals. Everywhere there were animals. Animals of all sorts. Half of them he couldn't even name or tell what sort of animal they were. Humans with animal parts; ears, wings, tails, claws, stripes, fur, coloured skin, funnily bent legs, teeth, oddly coloured skin, snake eyes. A woman opened her mouth and bit into the head of a large feline holding a cub. Everything was covered with a layer of red.

"Gods above. We shouldn't have come."

"Advance," the pharaoh's voice sounded through the visions.

Seto got down from the horse. On the ground he felt at least safe from the threat of falling off the nervous animal.

In between the trees he suddenly locked gaze with a pair of purple eyes. It was brief, but they saw each other. Seto's heart leaped into his throat. Malik wouldn't just hand Yugi over to anyone.

A short cry sounded ahead and Seto didn't have to rush there to know what happened.

"This is going out of hand," he whispered to himself and started moving. To where he didn't know, but his feet were determined to take him there.

* * *

"Fuck," Bakura swore. He had rushed straight north, but when he had come to the outskirts of the oasis where the trees grew sparsely and the desert was in sight, he had also spotted soldiers. The net may be the weakest here, but that didn't matter as long as the soldiers could still see them. They had to draw back into the greenery.

"Yugi, can't you do something? Your magic?"

"I don't know," Yugi mumbled into Bakura's chest where he had pressed his face. "I'm sorry, Baccura."

"Don't be," the thief whispered. "You are afraid, aren't you? I understand. It's the pharaoh and the Gods we are up against. Of course you are afraid."

The speech and soft tone was unlike Bakura, but it felt soothing anyway. Yugi was sure Bakura was as scared as he, because he could hear the furious heartbeat in the chest he was pressed against.

"You can purify the earth," Bakura continued to whisper, almost breathing the words. "The Treasure of the World. Yugi, I know you can do something."

Then suddenly, in between the trees, Bakura spotted none other than the pharaoh himself. He quickly retreated back into the oasis where he at least couldn't see the ruler of Egypt.

"We must go back to Jono," Bakura mumbled. "We can't get out like this."

* * *

Jono had been waiting all day, and he had been a bit bored, but this end of day had brought way too much excitement. Sneaking around and attack only to kill wasn't in his nature, and it felt very awkward and wrong. Still, this was for Yugi. Bakura-friend would take Yugi to safety, Jono was sure of it. Until then he would kill these men whose only sin was to follow the pharaoh's orders.

Then a man wielding an axe appeared in front of him and Jono had to jump back to not lose his nose.

"Are you not Anu? My little pet?"

Jono recognized the man. He had been guarding the gates of the palace through all the years Bakura and Yugi had pulled their pranks on the pharaoh. A lonely guard and soldier Jono had kept company for many a night.

The wolf growled and snapped with its jaws. The soldier looked hurt for a second, but in the next moment he sighed.

"I see. We are on different sides now. I would like not to hurt you, so run while you can."

Jono growled deeper in his throat and readied himself to attack. He would not be the one to run away. The soldier raised his axe and Jono was over him.

Something hit Jono in the side and the sudden pain made him yelp as he was sent through the air. He could smell his own blood.

"I'm sorry, Anu. Please run away now."

Jono turned his head and glared furiously. He wouldn't give up this fight. He was a wolf, and wolves don't give in until they are dead. Also, he was a wolf with something to protect.

For the eyes of the soldier, the wolf grew. And grew. All the while growling deeper and deeper. The paws grew into unimaginable sizes, the legs thickened, the head broadened, the body fattened and the tail shortened. Jono stood on his hind legs and roared.

* * *

Bakura, on his way back to the pond, stopped dead in his tracks as his body went rigid.

"What was that?"

"Jono's second form," Yugi whispered. "He must have met a strong opponent."

Bakura crouched down and moved in the general direction of the unfamiliar roar.

* * *

Where Jono was, was also an unconscious man. Because the brain of a human can't progress the fact of an animal with a solid form can change that form.

Jono didn't waste time. He crushed the skull of the unconscious soldier with a giant lab.

"What the?"

Behind him, more soldiers had turned up, staring at him with bewilderment and fear.

Jono roared again, and the soldiers dropped their weapons and ran. And a hunter doesn't let the pray run away.

Then Malik appeared among them. The men fell like trees for the axe where the giant feline's silent claws sliced through the flesh of throats. If the men didn't die immediately, then Jono finished them.

Malik changed into his third form, indicating for Jono to follow his example and flee before more soldiers appeared where they were.

Though it hurt his pride slightly, Jono obeyed and changed. Right now the hunt wasn't the point; it was to distract these humans from going after Yugi.

But the smell of Yugi and Bakura was moving towards them.

"Why haven't they left yet?" the man-wolf breathed where he ran beside the more agile Malik.

"What?"

Right then they almost ran into the human still carrying the boy in his arms.

"Bakura-friend?" Jono hissed.

"The oasis is already surrounded. I can't get away without being spotted."

"To the village," Yugi whispered from within Bakura's cloths.

Malik took the lead and Jono, changing into his first form again made the tail, prepared to distract possible followers.

"What are we going into the village for?" Bakura breathed to Yugi.

"I think I can do something to let us get away, but I need time and the pond isn't safe."

"Where to? Malik asked over his shoulder.

"Teana's house," Yugi whispered.

"Teana's?" Bakura echoed, falling over Malik when he suddenly ran into the feline. It was only skill that had him rolling to his feet.

"But Teana's house is…" Malik began.

"The only way," Yugi said. He couldn't look at his friends from where Bakura was hiding him, but his determination and reassurance could be heard in his voice. He knew it was hard on Malik, but it couldn't be helped. Teana's house was their only chance of hiding.

Bakura saw Malik's hesitation. Yet the feline human only hesitated to himself and purposefully moved into the right direction. The thief remembered Teana. A terrifying snake who worshipped Aphopis; the great serpent Ra fought every night to keep the world in peace. Teana, the black cobra.

He had met the cobra-woman, once, and wished he could forget all about her. About her eyes, a blue colour that chilled him to the core and didn't resemble the blue of Nut's body or the water of Nile. About her skin, black as a cobra and grey as a human. Grey like a corpse. She was the cause of much pain for Yugi, being the right hand of the false leader of their people.

Yes, Bakura wished he could forget she ever existed.

Malik suddenly made a sharp turn, and when Bakura couldn't quite follow the movement, he understood why. Soldiers, and Bakura couldn't move swiftly enough to avoid being spotted.

"THE THIEF KING BAKURA!" they hollered.

Named man swore under his breath.

"We'll get rid of them," Yugi whispered reassuringly in his arms.

"How can you be so sure?" Bakura asked, almost panicking when they left the safe shade of the trees and entered the village, where the ground was only patched with grass. If Malik hadn't kept running ahead in his first form, Bakura would have turned on his heels and return to the safer shade.

Malik purposefully ran towards a part of the village that was slightly removed. This was where the serpent people had lived. The people he feared. Teana's house was the centre, because she had been the strongest of them.

But when they arrived to her house the opening was blocked by soil.

With a wheezing breath Malik desperately started digging. He heard how Bakura came up behind him and how soldiers spotted them.

Jono appeared beside him, his bigger paws working faster than Malik's small ones. In mere seconds he had managed to dig into the house.

Bakura's head was spinning, his gaze moving from the approaching soldiers to the digging animals, panic squeezing his throat and he pressed Yugi's small body closer to his own.

"Come," Jono's stressed voice called out in a hushed whisper.

A second of hesitation, then Bakura threw Yugi into the opening before following himself.

"This way," Yugi announced as he moved into the darkness.

Bakura couldn't see well with the cheap light from the opening behind him, but he thought he saw the outline of Yugi disappear.

"What…?"

"No questions. Go," Malik prompted and pushed the thief in the direction Yugi had taken.

Bakura moved, and then bit his tongue to not cry out as the floor suddenly disappeared under his feet. Not for very long though as it appeared just as suddenly. Here it was pitch black.

"Take my hand. I can see," Yugi's voice whispered and grabbed the disoriented thief's hand.

The ceiling was low, so Bakura had to run doubled. Behind him he could hear the soft paws of Malik and Jono under the angry yelling of the soldiers that also seemed to have entered the house of Teana.

_If she had been alive…_ Bakura thought.

Yugi ran through the tunnel, as Bakura guessed it was, with such purposefulness the thief wondered if he had dug it himself. Every now and then the smell would change for a second, or a gust of wind would meet his face, telling him that this tunnel had connections.

Yugi moved upwards, pulling the surprised thief with him into a room with only two small holes of light up the walls telling they were near the surface.

"Yugi?" Malik's voice breathed.

"No time. Jono, help me move this stone."

It was times like this Bakura whished he was an animal too. He could see well in the darkness, but now he could hardly make out the outlines of his animal friends, and they continued to change shape. He heard how stone moved against earth and then saw how the body of Jono grew bigger and bigger. Jono grew into his second form. The one Bakura had yet to see. Right now he could only tell it was enormous.

"Well thought, Jono-friend," Yugi's voice breathed.

"Yugi… This is our home," Malik's voice said weakly.

"I know," Yugi answered. Bakura saw his small form move to the centre of the room. "Teana dug that tunnel to all the homes of people who meant a threat against Guto. Good thing she didn't make it only for herself."

"How did you know about it?" Bakura asked. His eyes were starting to adjust to the gloom, at least enough to see more than outlines.

Yugi turned towards him, and Bakura thought he saw the boy smile.

"I am the Treasure of the World, and to make trees sprout, I must first know about the earth."

An explanation that was good enough for Bakura.

"I'm going to create a cyclone that will surround the entire oasis. It will take some time, so please be patient."

* * *

Isis and Karim met troubles as Karim's horse suddenly collapsed from exhaustion. They had been riding nonstop for hours, and Isis' horse showed signs of being about to follow its friend.

"We can't lose time now," Isis said as she slid down from the horse's back and began to undo the straps of the saddle.

Karim followed her example, removing reins and saddle to put it on the horse he had taken with him as extra when this happened.

"Hurry now," Isis prompted and kicked the horse in the sides.

"Hold on!" Karim yelled and threw himself on the priestess's horse and managed to catch the reins.

"We can't stop now, Karim!"

"We'll lose even more time if you don't do these things properly," Karim returned stonily as he fastened the saddle's straps, making sure it wouldn't come loose and cause his friend to fall off her horse.

The woman looked down on him with desperation.

"I know you are worried, Isis. I am too. But if we aren't careful, who will stop the pharaoh?"

Isis took a deep breath. Karim was right.

"Forgive me, Karim."

"As long as you trust in me," the man returned with a lopsided grin as he turned his back to her, once again checking the straps of his own horse's saddle. Then he threw himself into it. "Lead the way."

Isis smiled and kicked her horse's sides again.

* * *

Atemu was growing angry. More than half a dozen of his men and been taken back to him dead.

"Curse it! I forgot that thief has pets."

"Let us not be hasty, pharaoh," Mahado said coolly as he examined the corpses.

Sliced throats, deep scratches from a clawed animal, and a few had crushed skulls and chests.

"We should keep out of the forest, for our own safety," the priest decided as he stood up.

A soldier ran up to them and kneeled.

"Pharaoh! We have found the thief."

"Where."

"In the south of the oasis, oh pharaoh. There seems to have once been a village. The thief and two animals dug themselves into one of the houses and disappeared. The men who followed said they found a tunnel and that the thief fled through them."

Atemu growled and turned his horse.

"Take me there."

The soldier's head hit the ground in heed before he sprung to his feet. Mahado mounted his horse and pulled up beside his pharaoh.

"Please listen to me, as your friend. I disagree that you enter the oasis. There is magic at work."

As Mahado mentioned it, Atemu noticed the wind picking up. But looking around he suddenly laid his eyes on the form of his cousin.

"Seto!"

The high priest of Toth looked up, pale-faced and with watery eyes. The smell that caught in Atemu's nose as he neared told him his cousin had been vomiting.

"Seto, what's wrong?"

"We shouldn't have come here, pharaoh," the man answered weakly. "Nothing can stop it now."

"What can't be stopped?"

The wind picked up even more, sending corns of sand up in the air where it went.

"He's trying something," Mahado mumbled.

"We're going south," the pharaoh ordered. "Mahado. You take care of Seto. I will stop Bakura."

"No. Please, Atemu," Seto protested weakly, desperation showing in his face, but the pharaoh was already out of hearing.

"What can't be stopped, my friend?" Mahado asked lowly as he supported the pale man, his heart beating with dread.

"The Gods gave our pharaoh and us and the rest of the world a second chance," Seto said, tears leaking from his eyes as he stumbled beside his friend. "Bakura is not the enemy. He's the one who desperately tries to save everything from disaster."

* * *

Bakura choked a sudden sneeze, his eyes darting to the small holes that for the moment were the only windows to the outside world. Out there soldiers ran around looking for him, but luckily his sneeze had passed them by unheard.

"How long will it take?" he breathed.

"It would take less time if I could do it from the pond," Yugi breathed back. "Be patient. I'm working as fast as I can."

It would be easier to be patient if Bakura hadn't been so concerned about the presence of the pharaoh. Yugi was using magic, and the thief was certain that the detested ruler could sense it and thereby easily find them.

Jono lay perfectly still over the stone that covered the only entrance to the small room and no sounds could be heard from the tunnel. Malik stood beside Yugi, as close as he dared without being in the way of the magic Yugi was performing. Bakura was left to listen to the sounds of feet and voices coming from outside. Something that slowly became harder as the wind picked up.

"Sandstorm!" a booming voice roared outside, only yards from where the four of them were hiding.

Bakura turned his head and stared at Yugi, who kept his hands cupped in front of his face and breathing on them. The little one really was working as fast as he could. After that they could only hope the pharaoh would draw back enough for them to slip between his greedy fingers.

* * *

Isis and Karim had tried to not push the horses too hard. They were still a long way before they reached the pharaoh, maybe half a day, and Ra showed them no mercy as his sun shone down on them.

Both the horses and they suffered from thirst.

"Isis! Over there."

The priestess looked to where Karim pointed, and instantly changed course. If she had still had the Millennium necklace, she would have seen the wagons first. She hated the feeling of being blind.

"Halt! Who goes there!"

"Put down your weapons!" Karim called with authority, and the soldiers guarding the small group of tents straightened up in surprise.

"Your holiness?" the leader said, staring until he caught himself and kneeled. The other four soldiers followed suit.

"Where is the pharaoh?"

"The morning and evening star left us behind to protect the servants, your holiness," the lead soldier answered clearly.

Karim turned to Isis. Their horses were tired, and there should be rested camels here.

"Give us two animals. Let ours rest here."

"Yes, your holiness," the soldiers answered, hit their foreheads against the earth before hurrying to follow orders.

The servants were called forward and silently started working. Isis and Karim left their horses to their hands and followed one taking them to the outskirts of the small camp where two dromedaries were already being prepared. They weren't as fast as horses, but they moved easier in the sand and had more perseverance.

Isis suddenly grabbed Karim's arms, digging her fingers into the flesh. The high priest didn't pay it any mind, as he too felt the growing energy.

"The animals are ready for you, holy priest of Maat, holy priestess of Isis."

"Thank you," the male priest answered, accepted the reins and whip and mounted the dromedary. Isis quickly followed his lead and took her seat on the second one, never taking her eyes off the horizon.

The dromedaries clumsily stood and both priests whipped them into running.

"Holy Goddess of Isis, mother of Horus. Give us strength and speed to not be late," Isis prayed.

* * *

"Pharaoh! Great pharaoh! What is happening?"

"It's magic!"

"What should we do, oh pharaoh?"

Atemu looked around, trying to cover his eyes from the sand. He had to cover his face with his cloak to be able to breathe at all and tried to calm his panicking horse. The animal knew to flee but not to where, and with the pharaoh wanting it to stand still had it go crazy.

The pharaoh was thrown out his saddle by winds, sand and the sudden skip of the horse and landed heavily on the ground, still holding onto the reins. The horse felt the weight on his back disappear and took off in a random direction. Atemu tried to hold the horse back, but there was no stopping it and he had to let go before he was killed by the animal's hooves.

And then the air cleared from sand. Surprised Atemu looked around. The horse fled away from him, and looking behind the pharaoh realized from what. Whatever Bakura had done, it had created a monster. Atemu had never seen anything like it. It was a sandstorm unseen before. The wind moved, taking sand and dirt with it high into the air, but it didn't move forward. It twisted upwards! How could a simple thief, even if it was Bakura, create something like this?

Backing away Atemu looked to his left and right, realizing there was no proof there was an oasis here.

"What are you planning, Bakura?" he growled.

"Great pharaoh!" a voice screamed out and Atemu turned to see a soldier on foot. "Are you well, oh pharaoh?"

"I am well," the pharaoh answered and raised his hand to stop the man from coming too close."Have you been out here all the time?"

"Morning and evening star, flow of Nile, we have surrounded the oasis just as your greatness asked of us."

"Good. Be on guard. Bakura may try to run in the shadow of this monster."

* * *

Mahado and Seto fought their way through the wind and sand. The high priest of Toth seemed to have regained some strength and moved forward with his own power, but it didn't make it any easier on any of them.

"This is not normal," Mahado yelled. "The winds are too strong to have been summoned by a single human."

"It's not summoned by a human," Seto croaked, unable to over-voice the winds.

A shadow suddenly passed in front of them, and Seto recognized the aura.

"Yugi?"

* * *

"That should do," The treasure of the World said and turned to his friends. "It won't last forever, but it may be just enough for us to get away."

"Perfect," Bakura grunted. "And how do we get out of here?"

"Just a moment. Malik should change into his second form first, and Jono into his first."

Without a word the two aforementioned changed. They were almost the same size that way.

"Are you going to run by yourself?" the thief asked suddenly as Yugi moved towards one of the now dark holes to the outer world.

"No, I shouldn't. Once I've opened the window, please carry me again."

Bakura nodded, picked up his discarded coat from the floor and prepared it. Malik and Jono braced themselves. Yugi put his hands on the wall and pressed.

"Run south."

The soil flew out and blended with the sand. Out there it was a chaos, sand and dirt flying in the directions of the winds with a speed that could possibly easily tear through a human's skin.

Bakura paid it no heed, wrapping Yugi into his coat and locked his arms around the small boy. Malik was first out with the human thief short on his heels and Jono following right behind. It was impossible to see through the sand, but Yugi had said to move south. Malik led the way, and Bakura could easily follow the feline even with his eyes open mere slits.

They passed something. Something that felt like humans. Bakura could hear a voice of surprise. Then they were out of the storm, and a man with a spear stood right in front of him.

"HIYA!"

Bakura was stopped in his tracks. Malik and Jono stood frozen.

"I got you, thief king Bakura," the man snarled and twisted the spear embedded in the bundle in named man's arms.

The pharaoh Atemu watched the scene with wide eyes. Bakura had come through the veil of sand, straight into the spear of his soldier. Now something wasn't right. Bakura's eyes were about to fall out of their sockets. But it wasn't pain Atemu saw in them; it was fear, and shock.

A whimper was heard, and Bakura's eyes slowly moved to the bundle in his arms.

Mahado and Seto exited the sandstorm and looked around. When their eyes landed on Bakura, Seto's face became a mask of fear.

Bakura's eyes returned to the soldier still holding the spear, a soldier that was quickly loosing confidence.

Something wasn't right.

Atemu noticed it first; the wind had died. The sand that had been carried into the air was slowly falling back to whence it came, and as it did, it revealed nothing.

Atemu stared. The trees were gone! The greenery was gone! All that was left was weathering stones pointing towards the sky like fingers. Following them, Atemu saw clouds. Black clouds that swiftly covered Nut's body.

A deep growl broke the silence. The pharaoh looked down at a golden desert hound that stared straight at him, snarling like Ammut. But the brown eyes were crying.

Seto sprung to life, moving from Mahado's side faster than anyone would have believed possible, and threw himself over the golden hound that was charging for the pharaoh. The high priest managed to catch the hind leg, and the hound turned in the air, sinking its teeth into the flesh of Seto's arm. He ignored the pain and grabbed a handful of fur and skin on the hound's neck. It released its hold, but its teeth found the nape of Seto's shoulder instead.

"SETO!"

The golden desert hound yelped, and then fell heavily over Seto's trembling body. Mahado stood over them, and Seto felt the handle of a knife on his right side and knew how the hound, the wolf, had died.

"Seto?"

Atemu's face appeared in his cousin's view.

"Pharaoh," the priest whispered. "What have you done, oh pharaoh?"

Mahado reached down, cupping Seto's face in his hands and shook it lightly, but it was too late.

"He's gone."

A shrill scream filled the silence and Mahado and Atemu looked up to see a boy. A small boy covered with the blood of the soldier that had planted the spear in Bakura. In one hand the boy held the soldier's body, in the other he held the head.

"It's your fault."

The boy looked up, his eyes glistening with furious grief in the light before it disappeared. Nut was completely covered with the black clouds, and they were hiding the light of Ra from sight.

The bloodied boy dropped the corpse in his hands and charged again.

Mahado ripped his knife out of the hound's body, piercing also the boy's heart with it. But it didn't stop the boy's claws from slicing through Mahado's throat.

Atemu screamed, reaching out for his friend, but never reached. Geb started to shake violently, causing the pharaoh to lose his footing. When he looked up, he saw Bakura. The thief looked at him without anger. There was nothing but fear in those indigo eyes, and it scared Atemu.

"How many worlds must fall?" Bakura whispered, but to Atemu, the words might as well have been screamed.

The Gods roared out their anger.

* * *

Isis and Karim had stopped. What they saw through the darkness couldn't be described in words or images.

"We were too late," Isis whispered.

* * *

The darkness lasted through the night, and in the morning, Ra raised in the east, chasing away the clouds and painting the sky in red. Isis and Karim awoke where they had fallen asleep in between their dromedaries.

Without a word they readied the animals and slowly made their way towards the goal they had hurried to reach the day before.

It took them hours, but the red colour of Ra's sun never faded, and when they arrived, it was even worse than they could have imagined.

The air was filled with ash-like mist. Everything was black. The earth, the stones, the corpses. Tears fell down the two friends' faces at the sight. Seto lay on his back staring into the sky with his arm around the neck of what had killed him. Mahado's throat was sliced open and both his hands were still holing a knife embedded in the chest of a boy, a boy whose face only mirrored a soul-deep grief.

The pharaoh was nowhere to be seen, but the pieces of the Millennium puzzle were spread around the place.

In the centre of everything stood a statue with an upturned face. A statue of Bakura.

"He was turned to stone," Karim whispered.

Isis swiftly turned her dromedary and left. Her friend stayed for a moment, watching the face of the thief that had tormented the old pharaoh for so long. In Karim's mind, Bakura had had the face of evil. The statue's face was frozen in question, like a child asking the Gods why his mother wasn't there anymore.

Karim could even imagine the tears that had fallen down those black cheeks.

Shaking his head, the priest turned to follow Isis. He found her outside the ashy mist by the feet of her dromedary, vomiting. With a quiet sigh, Karim manoeuvred his animal to lay down so he could step down and placed his hands on Isis' shaking shoulders.

"We were too late," Isis whispered, not bothering to dry her mouth. "I should have been more persistent. I knew it was dangerous for him to come here."

Karim said nothing. What could he say? Isis had always been able to see glimpses of the future, and it had caused the necklace to break. Atemu had been facing powers much greater than he could have handled, even with both Mahado and Seto by his side.

"What should we do now?" Isis whimpered and looked up into Karim's face. He had never seen her so lost before, and it scared him. Isis had always known what to do.

"What we can," he heard himself answer. "We can still bury Seto and Mahado. We can still collect the pieces of the Millennium puzzle."

Isis sobbed helplessly, defeated.


End file.
